A Twist Through Time (A TVDU fic)

Chapter 29

When Stefan Salvatore got to Elena's house, Caroline was arriving there as well. He wasn't sure how to break the news to them, but he knew he needed to. An hour or two wasn't nearly long enough to say goodbye. But was any amount of time long enough? Hadn't Elena already lost so much? Now because they hadn't listened to Elena that this was a problem, she was going to lose not only him but Damon and Caroline and Tyler as well. All at once. And Stefan couldn't help but feel responsible for it. He was glad Klaus was dead, but it had been his focus on the death of the Mikaelsons that had helped it be achieved, his willingness to get Elena into that room with Esther. Now they were going to die, and there was nothing he could do but break the news and say goodbye to the one person in town that he needed to say goodbye to.

Elena was quick to open the door shortly after he knocked to let him in. "What is it? What's going on?" she asked as she let Stefan and Caroline inside her house. Concern shone in her eyes as she watched them, taking in Stefan's grim expression and the confused but curious look in Caroline's. Clearly she had no more of an idea of what this was about than Elena did. 

"Is Damon here yet?" Stefan questioned, wanting to make sure his brother was here to hear this. He glanced around to see, but there was no older Salvatore brother in sight. He knew it didn't make much of a difference for him considering they were both going to die together. But he knew Damon had goodbyes he should say even though he wasn't one for goodbyes.

"No, not yet. Though I'm not sure if he-" she stopped in her tracks as the door surprisingly opened again, and a casual, collected looking Damon strolled inside, though the Gilbert could tell that he had been drinking, which Elena wasn't entirely sure if he was celebrating the fall of the Mikaelsons or drowning his buried inside misery that he hardly let be shown.

Damon hadn't been sure if he was even going to come back once the message appeared on his phone. The Mikaelsons were dead, so that was one problem down. The only remaining threats were whoever was out killing people like Bill Forbes and Meredith's ex fiance, and whatever was going on with Alaric's ring that didn't seem to be working properly. But then he considered the fact that there was still a threat, even if it wasn't a Mikaelson, and he wouldn't forgive himself if something happened to Stefan or Elena because he was too busy drinking next to Elijah's buried corpse.  He couldn't let that happen, so he took a swig of his whiskey and collected himself before speeding over to the Gilbert house, ready to pretend that everything was great and that he wasn't thinking about all sorts of things he'd rather be drowning in bourbon and sex.

"Alright, then I guess this is it" Stefan said, figuring Caroline would go see Bonnie herself, just as Damon might see Alaric and share a last drink."I went to the Mikaelson mansion to see Klaus' body with my own eyes, but instead I saw Esther." The younger Salvatore wasn't sure how to break the news easily so he would have to just break the news. "She said that because the Mikaelsons died that all of the vampires would be dead soon."

"What?" Caroline questioned, the word being the only one able to escape her lips as her body froze. Only recently had she begun to see a world of possibilities ahead of her that came with immortality. And now, she would have to say goodbye to her mother and her best friends. A life of immortality now being cut incredibly short, and she wasn't sure what to even say about that.

"Oh my god" Elena said, tears burning in her eyes as it all sunk in, but she pushed them away as she was used to doing until she couldn't help the tears anymore. Until she could no longer bare the heartbreaking feeling in her chest, the suffocating emotions caused by grief and pain that no one should have to experience.

Damon was silent as he took the news in because he didn't really have anything to say. Months ago, he had been dying of a werewolf bite and had accepted his death, had been ready to die after a long immortal life. Then, he was cured and had gotten closer to Elena than he had thought was ever going to happen, but that was before she said that him loving her was the problem. Now, however, he wasn't sure if he was ready or not, but he would accept it without complaint because there was nothing that could be done if this was true. He only wished that his death and his brother's as well as Caroline Forbes wouldn't cause Elena more pain, as though she hasn't been through enough grief in the past few years.