Because nothing ever really ends, does it?
Disclaimer: I own nothing, including the song at the end.
Epilogue: 3rd Person
Things hadn't been this quiet since before the Salvatores first came to town, all those years ago when Elena, Bonnie, and Caroline were in high school and normal teenage girls on the cheer squad. For a town where a major percentage of it's population was vampires, there were few deaths in those days.
Jennifer went to school, ignoring all remarks of how sorry people were for her loss. She felt bad now, knowing that her sister had been protecting her all these years. The guilt weighted heavy on her mind and she found herself spending the afternoons away from her friends and more in the cemeteries, despite how Isobelle had always proclaimed loudly that the graveyards freaked her out. She could remember that despite the cloud of darkness that seemed to hang over Izzy at all times, her sister loved few things more than the sunshine on her skin, open sky and land for miles in every direction, and, of course, her art work.
Klaus had disappeared a few hours after the morticians began to prepare his dead love's body. In the nights after her death and before her funeral, you could hear one lone wolf howling to the new moon.
For Elena and Damon, the death of their elder daughter seemed to link them together in ways that seemed more permeant than marriage.
"I wondered if I would find you here," came a voice from the doorway. Klaus turned with a start, looking up at the person who spoke, his tie hanging from around his neck. His hands were shaking too badly to knot it correctly.
Elena approached him, dressed in a plain black dress and heels. "I didn't think anyone would be here. The church service-"
"I couldn't stay there," she admitted, "It just makes it too real. I remember her being born like it was only a few days ago and now she's dead and-" She broke off, her voice cracking.
"Parents shouldn't have to bury their children," he nodded understandingly. "But when you have an eternity, chances are you're going to bury someone you love."
"'Better to have loved and lost than to never love at all?'" Elena quoted and he let out a deep breath, looking a little like he was going to fall over, and he steadied himself against the back of his chair.
"She knew it," Klaus muttered. "She knew that she would die there and she went anyways."
Elena's brow furrowed. "She knew? How do you know that she-?"
"She had a vision the day before and I'll bet you anything that's what it was about, because then she started going on about how she was going to die one day because she was mortal and-"
"And what?"
"We couldn't try to bring her back, because she didn't want to be brought back." Elena started to protest, but he looked up at her. "I guess that sort of makes sense though. You know, she made me sit through every episode of Buffy with her and the one thing she complained endlessly about was how miserable Buffy was when she got brought back."
The younger hybrid nodded. As Klaus began to close in on himself, remembering the moments he shared with her older daughter, she studied him. His tie was hanging loosely and she smiled sadly at that, tying it for him. "The service should be over soon. We should probably-"
He nodded and they left.
Polished curls framed her lovely face. Her lips had been painted red, despite being pale at the time she had passed. Her eyes were now closed. She was wearing her favorite leather coat over a simple black dress slacks and a plain black top as she lay over the plain white satin. It seemed sacrilegious to them to dress the girl up in a dress, so the slacks were the next best option. Around her neck was the locket her mother had given her all those years ago. On her finger was the Original family's ring that he had sized down for her, so that if she decided to join him in eternity... but she hadn't. She hadn't chosen him. Never had she seemed so far away.
He glanced over to her parents. Elena was huddled into Damon side, her face buried into his neck as she sobbed. Jennifer stood beside her friends, the werewolf and the witchling, who each had an arm wrapped around her in a show of comfort. The young doppelganger refused to cry, not just yet.
Finally, they closed the heavy cover over her ivory skin. She was so still, yet she looked as if she had only gone to sleep. An eternal rest, while the rest of them were doomed to an eternal wake. It seemed somehow fitting in his mind. Together, he and Damon laid the coffin in the ground and Elena cast the first bit of dirt over her elder daughter.
The heavy gray clouds hanging over the funeral seemed appropriate to him, as did the heavy chill that was wrapped around the large, empty field that was only marked by a single grave marker. Tears were in every eye of those who loved her. She was gone. She was really gone. The reality settled in and he couldn't breath anymore. Klaus fell to his knees once the others were gone, crying for her for the first time since her death.
He went home, to draw a picture of her from memory. She must have known that he would, because as he opened his sketchbook, an envelope fell out. He could still smell her on it.
Dear Nik,
I'm not going to put anything stupid there like 'if you're reading this, I'm dead', because you already know that you wouldn't be reading this if I wasn't dead. I would be telling you these things face to face. Also, I know you also thought letter writing was 'an art lost to my generation', like everything else, but not to me. Never to me.
Right about now, you're probably wondering what the hell is going on. I had a vision before the fight. I know you know that because I told you that. On the off chance you find this and I'm in a coma or something other equally stupid, can you go find whatever higher Power there is out there and bang them on the head a few times and ask them why are they giving me visions of things that are supposed to happen, but don't.
Anyways, back to my vision, I knew I wasn't going to come out of the fight alive. It'd be a fluke if I did. A really big fluke. But hey, me here, I AM kind of a major fluke to begin with. So you never know, maybe I am alive right now and sitting beside you or in the other room and we can have a good laugh about this then. But it's more likely that I'm six feet under. It stinks. I'm sorry.
I know you. So please, stop sobbing! It's embarrassing for all of us. Don't pine over me or some equally sappy over-romantic thing that you know if I was alive, I would slap you over the head and kick your butt to kingdom come for doing. You've buried more people than anyone ever should have to in a lifetime. It's unfair, I know, and you didn't have a choice. Just remember that it wasn't your fault that I'm dead. You couldn't save me. No one could. Some things are fated. Maybe us meeting was too.
Just so you know, I don't regret meeting you. If I was another person, we'd have a long happy life together... like an eternity long. But I'm not. I have a job that needs to get done. Written about in ancient prophecies or whatever my visions were and all that chosen-y stuff. Boy, it's tough being a prophecy girl and all that fun. I'm not complaining. Without me doing this, you guys have zero chance of stopping Stefan. See, before I was afraid, I was terrified to stand up to anyone. It's why I became a hunter in the first place. But I'm not anymore. So this is me, standing up. I'm not sacrificing or being a martyr or any of that, despite what you guys will try to make it out to be. I'm doing this for me and my peace of mind. Because if I live and one of you who I love dies, I'd never forgive myself. See, totally selfish here. But hey, details, right?
And I know that you know that I know that you are probably cringing at my overuse of the word 'know'. If you figured out, I'm kind of did that on purpose, you know, to annoy you one last time with it, because I know it will.
I'm sorry.
I love you.
Isobelle
P.S. I like lilies.
In the field, there sat a lone tombstone, with the words inscribed on it:
Isobelle Alexia Rosemarie Salvatore
September 9, 2012- November 12, 2030
Beloved Daughter
Devoted Sister
Pure of soul
She saved all who needed saving.
If I die young, bury me in satin
Lay me down on a bed of roses
Sink me in the river at dawn
Send me away with the words of a love song