Loss

Damon and I quickly headed back to Whitmore where Stefan had died. We walked into the building and heard Elena and Caroline crying. We followed their noise and saw Stefan, with grey, veiny skin.

"Oh, my gosh." I said as I fell to my knees next to him.

"I didn't know where to bring him. I just couldn't leave him outside." Caroline cried.

"Bonnie has a plan, right?" Elena asked Damon, "she said that she could bring people back."

He didn't answer. He was too taken back by look at his dead brother.

"Tell me she can bring him back!" Elena said with her voice getting louder.

"We'll bring him back." Damon said quietly, "come on. Let's get away from prying eyes."

He grabbed a blanket and covered Stefan's body.

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Elena and Caroline went to go find Luke and Liv to help us do the spell to bring people back from the other side. They didn't agree so Caroline snapped Lukes neck, making Liv help us.

"Class is in session." Damon said as him and I walked into a classroom, where Matt and Jeremy are, "first assignment— anti-magic perimeter. Gilbert, what do you got?"

We got to the desk and there was a map with a large circle drawn on it.

"I walked around Mystic Falls this morning to see where my hunter instincts disappeared." Jeremy told us.

"Meaning what, your biceps shrunk, and your brain got smaller?" Damon joked.

"Meaning that I have a supernatural urge to kill vampires, so wherever I hated you less, there was no magic."

"The cemetery's outside of the no-magic perimeter, a couple unpopulated other areas other than that." Damon said analyzing the map.

"Hey, Professor Salvatore, not everyone can see the map." Caroline said over the phone.

"Yea, don't forget about us." Elena added.

"Donovan, you had one job." Damon said.

"I'll send you a picture right now." Matt pulled out his phone and sent it to them.

"We should be there." Elena said.

"Nope. You're on witch duty because without crazy locks, no one's rising from the dead. So next order of business, mass murder." Matt grabbed blueprints and laid them on the desk, "We got this from the Sheriff. Apparently there was some truth to her evacuation story. There's a major gas line that runs underneath the town. Now if it did leak, it could be deadly, as in massive explosion kind of deadly."

"We can't blow up our hometown." Matt argued.

"Says one of the only people left in this group who can actually live there." Damon responded.

"We're not blowing up our hometown. We just need to lure enough travelers to one spot." I told them.

"How? We can't lure anyone anywhere stuck out here." Caroline responded.

"And that's where your mama comes in. She will convince them to gather somewhere inside. Meanwhile, these two geniuses at 7:00 will turn on the gas, let it leak. We'll have about ten minutes before anyone can smell it. You clear out. Boom! Travelers gone, resurrection spell starts, loved ones return. Good?" Damon explained. We nodded, "Good. Class dismissed."

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Liv, Elena, and I got to the cemetery where Bonnie was. We walked into the crypt.

"Did you find a traveler that's gonna get us out of here?" Elena asked.

I saw someone next to us, "Stefan?" I asked looking at him.

"Silas." Bonnie corrected.

"Oh." We responded confused.

"Well, I'm gonna go call Damon and tell him we're ready." I said and left the crypt.

I saw him from afar and headed towards him.

"So you good?" I asked him.

"Operation massacre. Assuming Donovan knows the difference between and water main and a gas main, yea, I'm good."

I rolled my eyes and laughed.

"Listen. I wanted to spare you the glory detail, and then I figured, 'well, I'll be lying, and then the whole point of saving the universe will be moot because you'd be pissed.'" I looked at him confused, "so here it is. Project kaboom needs someone to trigger the explosion, so to speak."

I thought for a second, "wait. You?" He nodded looking at the ground, "no, Damon! Absolutely not." I told him getting upset.

"Go with your first instinct, Damon. Lesson learned." He said to himself.

I wrapped my hand on his neck, "Damon, look at me." He looked up into my eyes, "do you see a future with me? Because that's all I see with you."

"Ellie, I've seen it since the second I laid eyes on you."

"Then don't go on a suicide mission." I begged.

"Listen. Technically, it's only half a succor mission because we're gonna be bringing people back from the other side, and I'm gonna be with them."

"What if something goes wrong?" I asked bring my hands down.

"Not to relive old fights, but this is my choice and I need you to respect it."

I scoffed.

There was a pause between us.

"I can't lose you because I don't know what I'd do without you." I told him looking at the ground.

He cupped my cheeks, "hey," I looked into his eyes, "I will make it back to you, I promise."

I leaned in and kissed him. He immediately kissed back. I know it may be selfish, but I need Damon. If something goes wrong, I don't know what would happen.

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"It's 7:00, Jeremy and Matt should've turned on the gas main." Caroline said checking her phone.

I didn't respond. All I could think about was Damon sacrificing himself for us.

"Liv started the spell." Bonnie told us.

I ignored them and sped off. I headed to the outside of the Mystic Falls boarder, where Damon should be.

I stopped running and saw him a few feet back. I saw him get into his car and I hurried towards him. Before he could drive off, I opened his passenger side door and got in.

"What the hell are you doing?" He asked me.

"You said to respect your choice. Now you can respect mine." I responded.

"Woah, No. That's not how this works, Ellie." He argued, "the second we cross that border, you're gonna feel everything. It's going to take you back to the night you died a human."

"I know that, Damon. That's why I got in the car. I'm all in." I looked straight ahead.

I noticed him looking at me and I looked at him.

"Drive." I demanded.

He tried to hide his smirk, causing me to.

He put the gear in drive then sped off. A few seconds after crossing the boarder, I started to breathe heavily as I started to get anxious. I put my hand on Damon's, that was on the gear, and started to calm down a bit.

Then, I started to feel everything I felt that night I died. I tried not to show it, but I gripped my head with my other hand.

"Hurry. We have to die while we're still vampires." I groaned.

Damon presses the gas harder and the car went faster.

"Damon," I looked at him, "I love you."

He looked back at me and smiled, "I love you too."

Then, we hit the Mystic Grille, where the travelers were at, at everything went black.

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I opened my eyes and I was in the woods. I saw Bonnie from afar.

"Bonnie!" I called and ran towards her.

"Ellie!" She smiled, "did it work? Are you—"

"Yes. Did Damon—"

"I'm right here." He came from behind us.

"Okay. When you guys pass through me, you're gonna wake up with your bodies on the other side. You need to get back here as fast as you can." She explained.

We nodded and she grabbed onto us.

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I saw Damon's car and my dead, burnt body was in it.

"Did you seriously wear your seat belt?" I heard someone say from behind me.

I turned to look and saw Alaric. I smiled, "Alaric, what—"

"Come on. We got to go." He cut me off.

"Wait. What about Damon? I need to find him."

"No, you need to go back. I'll find Damon."

"I can't—"

"Ellie, go. Get out of here."

I nodded and started to run back to the woods where Bonnie is.

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I got back to the woods and saw Stefan and Lexi. I ran up to them.

"I can't find Damon." I told them.

The other side was really windy and was about to disappear in any second.

"You go, I'll wait here." Stefan told me.

"No! I'm not leaving without him!" I fought.

"This place is falling apart." He fought back.

"No, Stefan!"

Bonnie grabbed my arms, causing be to come back to the real world.

"Ellie! Thank god!" Elena and Caroline said.

"No, Bonnie! Why would you do that?" I cried, "I can't leave without him."

"We'll find him."

"What? What's going on?" Caroline asked, "who are we missing? Where's Stefan?"

Bonnie started coughing. She bent down and coughed in her hand then blood came out. She fell over and Stefan caught her, bringing him back.

"No. No, no." He whispered.

"Stefan!" Caroline cheered.

"I was just trying to—"

"What's wrong?" Elena asked.

"She fell. I was just trying to—"

"What?" Caroline and Elena said.

"Damon. He isn't there yet."

I took a step back as tears started to come out of my eyes.

"It's okay. I can do this." Bonnie assured me before walking off.

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I ran into the crypt and saw the candles burnt out with no Liv.

"No." I sobbed.

Bonnie walked in.

"Bonnie, we need to find them and start the spell again." I told her.

"We can't. That was our one shot."

"Yea, but Damon's in the other side." I said through the tears.

"Ellie!" She looked at me and sighed, "it's too late."

I fell back and everything felt as if it was spinning. I backed up into the wall and started crying. I felt my heart breaking over and over.

I saw Damon behind Bonnie and started to cry harder, knowing he's dead.

"Say goodbye." Bonnie told me then walked out.

He walked closer to me.

"You lied to me." I cried out.

He brushed a piece of my hair behind my ear and I felt it.

"I know. I'm sorry." I heard him.

"Please don't leave me."

"I don't have a choice, baby. You are by far the greatest thing that ever happened to me in my 173-years on this Earth. The fact that I get to die knowing that I was loved, not just by anyone, by you, Ellie Thompson, is the epitome of a fulfilled life."

I put my hand on his chest. Once I felt him, I quickly moved into his embrace and cried in his chest— knowing this was the last time I can feel him.

"It's not going to get any better than this. I peaked." I felt him kiss the top of my head, "I love you, Ellie."

I couldn't say anything. If I opened my mouth to speak, a sob would come out. He gently let go of me and took a step back.

"Please don't leave me." I wept.

"Bye." He said before walking out.

I tried to go after him, but I couldn't move my legs. I felt a hand on my shoulder. I turned around and saw Alaric.

"He's gone." I cried.

He pulled me into his arms and I wrapped my arms around him, missing his embrace.

"Bonnie!" We heard Jeremy screaming from outside.

We looked at each other before going outside. Everyone crowded around each other.

"Bonnie!" Jeremy screamed again.

"What's going on?" Tyler asked.

"Bonnie!" Jeremy came running passed us.

We saw Bonnie standing far off from us. Damon was next to her. Next thing, they were gone.

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I opened the door to my dorm room and just stood there. I felt numb, like I didn't want to do anything. I slowly walked in and shut the door behind me.

I slid my back down the door and sat down on the floor, bringing my knees to my chest, and crying. I didn't want to cry anymore.

I got back up and grabbed a box from my closest. I set it on my bed and and stood there thinking.

Do I want to do this? Do I not want to feel anymore?

I grabbed the pictures of Damon and I and threw them in the box. I went to my dresser and look at the other pictures I had of us.

A photo booth picture, a group picture with all our friends, and a picture with Damon, Scott, Alaric, and I. I grabbed them and put them in the box. I grabbed the fake rose.

"Here." Damon handed me a rose.

"It's fake." I told him as I took it from him.

He rolled his eyes, "you don't understand the meaning of it."

"What's the meaning?" I asked.

"A real rose would die in a few days. This rose will never die, like my love for you."

I looked down to the ground and smiled.

"So cheesy, but romantic. I love it." I kissed his lips.

"I love you."

I threw the rose in the box.

I went into my dresser and threw every piece of clothing I had of Damon's in the box. I set the box on the ground and started to take off my sheets. Then I threw those in the box.

There was a knock at the door. I hesitated before opening it.

"Hey." Stefan said. His eyes were all red and puffy, like mine.

I didn't respond. If I were to say anything, I'd cry. And I don't want to cry anymore.

I moved to the side and let him in.

He looked at my bed then my dresser.

"What's in the box?" He asked.

I didn't want to say anything, because he probably already knows what's going to happen next.

He looked at me, "Ellie, you don't want to do this."

"Burn the box for me, please." I told him.

He rushed towards me, but I snapped his neck.

I felt a few more tears fall down my cheeks as I turned off my humanity..

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This is the end of the book! Hope you guys enjoyed it! If you want to continue the series, the next book is called "A Final Goodbye" and I will start writing soon.

Thank you guys for reading this far!

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