Klaroline: Little Do You Know

Chapter 33: Against The Grass; Epilogue Part 1

20 Years Later

~ No Pov ~

The sky is clear tonight, the last night of Elena's 20 years imprisonment, the last day of Damon's too. While Elena sat trapped, starving, alone in her tomb; Damon retreated far from anyone and everyone he ever knew, disguising himself in the overpopulation of big cities, where no one knew anyone and wouldn't notice if anyone disappeared or didn't go out during the day. Damon didn't care to see the world in the sun anymore, that's why he left his daylight ring with Elena, his world wasn't worth living and enjoying without her so why have the ability to at all. Elena hasn't moved for the last fifteen years, unable to open her eyes or even lift her hands to read Damon's letter again; she has it memorised but she misses his handwriting, she misses the faint scent of his cologne on the now yellowed paper. Now every breath is like sandpaper, her skin is grey and tight across her aching bones, she barely has the energy to think anymore she just lies on the stone bench clutching Damon's daylight ring to her chest, a position she took the day she realised she wouldn't move again, and here she lies now counting down the minutes until her last.

As though written for a film like poetic repetition, Damon enters Mystic Falls under a shroud of mist. After a quick stop to the Mystic Falls hospital for a handful of blood bags he speeds off to the remains of Fell's church. A feeling of de ja vu overtakes him. The first time he came back to Mystic Falls was in pursuit of Katherine, to rescue her from the very tomb Elena lies in. He digs out the stairs once again and clears a path to the stone that stands between him and his Elena, Destiny said it would open for him when the time was almost up, it has to open. He grasps the sides of the stone, taking a deep breath he pulls it away from the entrance...the world moves in slow motion as he rushes into the tomb in search of Elena. There on the stone bench shrouded in luminescent moonlight, Elena lies hands folded over her stomach, grey as the walls around her, skin stretched tight against her bones; a living corpse. He hurries over to her and pulls her lifeless body against his chest as he produces a blood bag from his backpack, he tears it open and forces the blood into her mouth. Elena's near skeletal hand grasps the blood bag tightly and drains it in seconds, Damon grabs another and feeds it to her again tears welling in his eyes, this time...she's here...This time, she loves him. A few more seconds and the bag is empty, the colour has returned to her, the air that fills her lungs no longer burns, she can open her eyes. She blinks away the years of darkness to stare into the eyes of the man she loves.

"Damon!" Her voice hoarse and foreign after years of silence erupts from her body in desperation as she wraps her arms tightly around his shoulders and sobs into his neck. His arms circle her waist and hold her against him for as long as he possibly can before she pulls away and crashes her lips against his.

"Elena." He whispers against her lips, her name a prayer he has muttered in his sleep for twenty years come true. Their foreheads rest against each others as they revel in the other's embrace.

"You left your daylight ring, Damon why would you do that?"

"You were my light Elena, I could never be a part of a world without you there by my side." He takes her left hand kissing her knuckles and the ring he left her in his letter. "You are my life Elena."

"And you're mine." He lifts her still recovering body in his arms and carries her to the entrance of the tomb. "What are you doing? I can't leave."

"I worked something out, you should at least get to see one last sunrise." They cross the threshold and ascend the unearthed steps to the clearing above. "Hold on tight." She tightens her hold around his neck as he runs with all his supernatural speed to the cemetery, stopping before her parents' shared headstone. He helps her stand. Elena breaks down, kneeling on the grass befalling her parents' tombstone, tears flow endlessly down her face as she grasps at the stone; tracing the letters.

"I'm so sorry, I'm so sorry for everything, I let you down...I wish I could take everything back, I wish you never came to pick me up that night, I wish Stefan never pulled me out of the water." Damon kneels beside her and pulls her tight against him, he kisses her head and wipes the tears from her face. After calming down she touches the stone again. "I'll see you soon, I love you." He takes her to Jenna's headstone, she sinks to her knees once again and traces the letters. "I'm so sorry Jenna. I love you, so much." Damon takes her in his arms again knowing the sun is near rising and speeds through the woods to the top of the falls. "Thank you." She says as he places her on her feet.

"Everyone deserves to say goodbye to the people they love." She touches her hand to his cheek, he leans into her touch and takes a deep breath. She places his daylight ring in his hand.

"The sun is almost up, Damon I..." She rubs her thumb gently across his cheek and smiles sadly as tears begin to spill from her eyes. "I love you so much, there is no where else I would rather be than right here with you. Thank you for staying with me." She kisses his lips gently as she feels the sun peek over the horizon. Elena turns in Damon's arms to face the rising sun, he holds her tightly against him as he releases his daylight ring. It lands against the grass by their feet, he takes both her hands in his. She grasps them tightly but feels no ring, she turns to Damon eyes wide and full of tears. "Damon."

"Elena." He presses his lips against hers as the rays of the rising sun sets their skin alight, all that remains are their rings against the grass.