The 13th chapter already! I can't quite believe it… I mean, this story was originally meant to be a ONESHOT, *lol*.
Other than that: Avecia, my dear, you have outdone yourself with your betawork, this time *HUGS*.
And a big thank you to my readers, and especially my reviewers: guys, you are the BEST, you are constantly making my day^^.
So, I don't own anything about the VD, I'm just messing around.
NO spoilers for season two in this – and if there are, it's not on purpose.
On with it!
xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo
As he opened the front door of the boarding house, he had to blink a few times to get his eyes to adjust to the bright sunshine outside.
In the three weeks he had been released from the hospital, he only ever had left the house to visit Elena.
Stefan made sure that there was always enough to eat in the house, and Bonnie provided much needed company besides his brother. It was nice enough to be able to talk to him again – talk without hate and regret and all kinds of negative feelings lacing every conversation.
But he could only take so much of Stefans worried glances and thinly veiled attempts to distract him from the downwards spiral he was on
And, as weird as it sounded, he started to look forward to Bonnies visits.
They won't talk much – no deep conversations, no platitudes, and no 'life will go on's'.
Stefan had managed to push all thoughts of Elena to the back of his mind.
His brother had reconciled himself with the fact that, one day, he was gonna loose her to death.
He never would have even contemplated turning this perfectly human being into something dark and twisted like they were.
Her death came sooner than anticipated and, sure, he mourned her, but not nearly as much as he should.
So lost in his own thoughts, he had made his way to the graveyard without even noticing.
As he came near enough to his destination to be able to see it, his lips quirked up, just a bit.
Just like at that night, the place was already occupied – with Bonnie.
He made sure to make some noise – dragging his feet through leaves and stepping on a few branches so as not to startle her.
She turned her head slightly to the side, just enough to be able to see him out of her peripheral vision and made room for him on the blanket she had brought.
For a while they just sat there, staring at the gold lettering on the stone.
Him, wishing that her name never had to be put upon it, and she, contemplating how to tell him that they no longer rang true.
Her best friend had died – nothing to argue about this – but she wasn't dead anymore.
"What's wrong with you today? You look kind of sick. Like you're about to give a speech in front of a full football stadium or something."
Bonnie lifted one of her eyebrows (a gesture she had copied from Damon himself – even if she would never confess to it) and shook her head.
"If only… listen Damon, there's…. I have to tell you something and I don't quite know were to start."
"I figured that much. What with the broody faces and how you've been avoiding me all week. So, shoot, what is it? Can't reverse the spell? You know, I told you that that wouldn't be possible."
She was glad to hear a bit of sarcasm in his words, even if she knew that it was all show. He tried to keep it together, tried to seem collected and at peace. But no matter what, his eyes were always empty. Like someone switched off a light inside of them.
Because even as she still had hated him, she had always been fascinated by how alive they were.
He might've been cruel and an asshole, but he loved his life, and lived it to its fullest.
Even while pining after Katherine – always trying to find a way to save her from the prison he believed her to be in – he never forgot how to have fun.
But now he was just going through the motions. Never joking around, or flirting. No rude comments, nothing. Just the occasional jabs to Stefan and a 'little witch' here and there to her.
It had been nearly a week since Elenas visit, and she couldn't postpone this any longer.
"This isn't about reversing the spell… although I won't be trying to do it anymore.
I had a visitor last week and it… kind of threw me for awhile.
I don't know why I hadn't told you already… this is gonna make you happy. It's just…alright, here it goes: As I came home last Thursday, there was someone waiting for me in my room.
I thought at first it was Katherine but actually… it wasn't. Damon… Elena was sitting on my bed. She was alive, and well, and she told me to let you know."
She knew that it was a little bit abrupt, but she had no inclination to beating around the bush – not anymore.
Damon just sat there, trying to comprehend what the witch had said.
"Bonnie…not to break your little bubble but… we're sitting in a graveyard, in front of Elena's grave. She's been dead for over three months now… there's no way that she suddenly woke up. Not even with vampires, witches and god knows what else in this world."
And as she knew there wasn't a way that she could make him understand with simple words, she took his hand in both of hers (she's been doing that a lot lately… it helped her guilt, feeling his hand warm and alive) closed her eyes, concentrated and let him see her memories of that night.
As it was done, she let go of him again, but he wasn't moving a single muscle. Just stared straight ahead, still reeling.
After a few minutes of this, he suddenly threw his head back and laughed.
He laughed hard and loud, and it came from deep, deep inside of him.
All the pain and regret, every what if and if only broke free.
And for the second time since he could remember he had tears running down his face.
But this time, they were out of joy and wonder, and all the other right reasons.
Xoxoxoxoxoxoxox
It had been two weeks since the day Bonnie told him that Elena was still out there.
Two weeks in which he practically had to force himself to not pack a few things and start looking for her.
But it's what she wanted, for them to let her go, and he would respect that. He just wished that she would hurry up and call or write or even e-mail him already.
And as he waited for that to happen, he began to live his life again.
He visited a few council meetings, spent the odd night drinking with the teacher (it was strange how he could go from wanting to throttle the man, to laughing at a geeky not-at-all funny remark from him) and made sure to keep tabs on the Gilbert boy.
He had the disturbing drive to make sure that he would be okay.
So far he's been doing… not exactly okay, but at least he wasn't back on any drugs (or trying to kill or change himself again, or whatever).
He left the house in the morning, went to school, and right back home when it let out in the afternoon.
He never went out, and, as far as he had gathered, won't talk much, either.
Damon's guess was that the boy was making an effort to improve his marks in school and not be a jerk – for the sake of his sister, who always wanted that he would just get his life back into order.
But all this was far, far away at the moment, because just three minutes ago, he went to get the mail inside.
And there in his hands was an envelope. It wasn't an eye-catcher or anything. Simple and plain white, with his name and the address of the boardinghouse on the front. But he recognized the writing – he had lost count at how often he had read the diary she had left for him.
He left everything else were it was, not even bothering to shut the mailbox, and blurred into the house, up to his room and firmly shut and locked his door.
Only then did he take a deep breath, sat down on his bed, and slowly opened the envelope.
Inside of it, were a neatly folded letter and a beautiful postcard of Lhasa, China.
The backside simply read 'sorry that you had to wait so long'. Nothing else; no greeting, no signature.
He laid the postcard on the bed beside him and slowly, nearly tenderly unfolded the letter.
Hey there,
I know, that's a crappy line to begin with, but I always was bad with beginnings (and with endings, as it is).
I'm sure Bonnie told you by now what happened, right? So I won't explain it again, but use this letter to say other, more important things instead.
Like how sorry I am that I had let you believe that I'm really dead.
I should have visited you as soon as I saw you awake, but I couldn't. I was too much of a coward I guess. Because I just went and let myself be killed. I ran away and left you with the consequences.
I know now how wrong it was, but that won't change what happened. So I apologize for it, and hope you can forgive me.
Also, I'm thanking you that there isn't a search party, right on my heels.
I can't be sure about that, but Katherine obviously has connections, and she assured me that, apart from you and Bonnie, everyone is none the wiser in Mystic Falls.
And yeah, she's still with me. I think she's as eager as I am (if not more so) to find out what I am now. Guess she doesn't like not knowing something. But that's okay… she's been a great help, so far. It's really a task with her sometimes though – she can be like a little girl one moment, and like a psycho the next; but I think I kind of like her. I'm not sure I do, but I think so, at least.. We'll see.
So… as you saw on the postcard, we're in China right now… don't ask me why. Something or another about how it's an old, oooold culture, and they're bound to know more about strange magical phenomenons than the people at home.
I just tag along at the moment, trying not to scare myself when I set something on fire just by looking at it (don't ask… strange gifts from the afterlife. Without a damn manual I should add. NOT nice).
Now, I have to hurry, because we have an appointment with some old witches, and Katherine doesn't want to let them wait.
I'll write soon!
Love, Elena.
After he had read the letter, he just stared at it for a few moments, before he grinned.
That was more like her. Taking everything in stride, and nagging about the hot-cold temperament of Katherine. No more giving up.
She was really okay. And she had an old and dangerous vampiress to protect her.
She wasn't here – he couldn't look out for her, or hold her or simply be there for her.
But she was okay, so he could live with it.
Looking at the postcard, he stood up and made his way over to his desk, picking up a pin and looking around his room.
With a firm nod he walked back to his bed, and pinned the card right over the headpiece.
xoxoxoxoxoxo
Stefan just shook his head. His brother was, slowly but surely, going crazy. Yesterday he caught him whistling while he cooked. And if it were just the whistling or cooking – separately – it wouldn't be that bad. But he had made dinner for Bonnie, Jeremy, Jenna and Alaric. He had actually invited them to dinner at the boarding house.
It all had started with these letters. In the last seven months, he got one each week.
In some of them were postcards, every time from a different city or country or even continent.
He had no idea who wrote these letters (he first thought it might be Katherine, but he couldn't see that happening; not for his life), but he was thankful for them, nonetheless.
His brother was living again, not just existing. It just scared him how…nice he was sometimes, now.
Shaking his head again – Damon just came home from where ever, and had actually a bounce in his step – he went up to his room, leaving the mystery that was his brother these days to another day.
Xoxoxoxoxo
6 years later
Stefan had the new letter from Lady unbeknownst (that was the name he gave her - it had to be a woman, for Damon to be so exited about them, even after all this time) in his hands for the whole of ten seconds, before Damon plucked it out of them and disappeared into the living room with it.
He watched as his brother ripped the envelope open (he had stopped being careful with the outer shells a few years back – the only thing that counted was inside, after all) and pulled another postcard and letter out of it.
He held the card up without questioning – it was a ritual by now (has gotten one as Damon caught him sneaking around in his room, trying to find out who wrote the letters). It quenched his curiosity a little – to know were the letter came from, this time.
It was Milan, Italy. He lifted his brows… Milan seemed a strange place for Damons little pen pal. Usually she visited less known places.
He was ripped out of his musings as his brother shot up off the couch and stared at his letter with wide eyes.
"Hey… what's up? Everything alright?"
Damon just grinned, turned and generally looked like the cat that got the cream.
"Nope. She said to watch for strange things. Heard rumors that something's about to happen here. Something bad."
Stefan blinked and looked at him like he lost his mind.
"Right and… why are you grinning like a madman, then?"
"Don't know. Guess I got bored with everything running so smoothly lately."
Then he just turned around, took the postcard out of Stefans hands, and went up to his room.
After closing his door, he put his newest letter into the chest with all the others, before he pinned the postcard on the wall. With the hundreds of others already there, his room was way more colorful than he ever thought possible for him.
But it didn't matter, for his life was about to get interesting again.
That, and the fact that with something threatening the peace in this town must mean that she's coming home.
Xoxoxoxoxo
So, I know this was quite the time jump. BUT I would have bored myself to death, if I had written the whole process of Elena learning how to deal with what she is now. We'll be getting the short version of it, when she explains it to Damon^^.
Now, let me know what you think – you just have to click on the little button below.
Reviews are LOVE, people^^.
So long,
Zora.