MONSTER, stefan salvatore [2]

Epilogue

EPILOGUE

Mystic Falls High School

Stefan Salvatore had lived for 171 years, and he had known Natalie Saltzman since he was 162. He had missed her since he was 166, but he had done his best to honor her, to keep trying to live without her. He had even tried to move on, back with his first love, Valerie. But nothing seemed to bring him out of the love-induced daze Natalie was still able to put on him after she died. 

He had spent five years without her, it was even longer than the time he had spent with her. And in that time, a lot had happened. He had even turned human again. But he wasn't going to have a long, human life. On March 8th 2018, he had once again sacrificed himself for the greater good. 

He didn't know what to expect after dying, if he was going to find peace. But he hoped that in peace, he would reunited with his wife. Well, they never had an actual marriage. They also only got married in her mind, but they were still married in his book.

And so he had just finished saying goodbye to Elena for the last time, her just having woken up from her coma without Bonnie dying. It was good to have a final moment with the woman he once thought was his soulmate before dying. 

He pushed the door of his old high school open, finding the lights to suddenly be brighter. The world, which still looked like the same old Mystic Falls, seemed like it was better, much more peaceful. Like pure peace. 

For a moment, the bright light seemed unfamiliar, blinding his human eyes for a moment. But once he finally adjusted, he saw a familiar face with a familiar body standing with her body leaning on his old, red car. The one she once loved so much. 

Natalie shook her head at him, a small smile playing on her lips as she tried to contain her excitement of finally being reunited with the love of her life. "I should have known you'd go out in some annoyingly heroic way."

He couldn't help but be brought out of his trance, her beauty and appearance having blinded him. The sound of her soft voice seemed to make everything so much more real. He quickly grinned, and it didn't take long before he started moving towards her. 

She smiled widely as well, and moved towards him like he did with her. She didn't know what he was planning to do now that they were finally reunited after five years without each other, but the answer was quickly given to her. 

He grabbed her, lifting her in the air so he could look up at her, feeling the crooks and corners of his body, holding her up by her waist. She yelped for a moment, only for them to be replaced by giggles as she put her lips on his, her hands around his neck while her legs wrapped themselves around his waist. 

She had missed him more than she had ever thought it was possible to miss anyone, and her lips had missed his equally as much. Her fingers caressed the back of his neck carefully, like they had so many times before. 

There was no way she would ever have forgotten him, everything that he had ever done, good and bad, was too memorable to even be considered just a memory. He was an adventure, one she had experienced and she never wanted to end. 

"I guess the whole moving on thing was a bust, huh?" Natalie breathed, holding herself up over him by the hold her legs had on him. She kept her lips brushing towards his, and he felt himself shiver by the way her words had caused them to move on them. 

He chuckled, feeling his hands clinging onto her. After all that time of longing, and refusing to not love her with all his heart, he finally felt like he was allowed to come home. "You have no idea."

She grinned, and only put her lips back on his. After all they had been through, with and without each other, they could finally have an eternity together in death. They could finally be husband and wife, be together forever and it felt like pure bliss. 

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Mystic Falls Cemetery

Elena Gilbert did what she had done before in her youth. She sat in the same old Mystic Falls cemetery, she had her diary resting on her legs with a pen in her hands. On one page of the diary, her hand rested on the letter Damon had given her when she woke up she smiled a bit as she looked at it. 

After med school, I came home to Mystic Falls, she wrote.  It felt right. It's where I wanted to grow old and I did. And that's my life: weird, messy, complicated, sad, wonderful, amazing, and above all epic. And I owe it all to Stefan. When I met him, I had lost my parents and I was dead inside, but he brought me back to life and I'm going to live it as best I can for as long as I can.  

She brushed her hands over the letter again, smiling at the feeling of the old paper, that had been in her every diary since she had been back. And throughout all that time, every day for my whole life, I kept reading the letter Natalie left for me. Whether it was just a rushed glance or a concentrated reading session, I held onto what my little sister left me. The last I had from her. 

Dear Elena, it said, Natalie's writing having been as nice as she could make it when she was dying, her hands shaking from the effects of the werewolf venom. I'm dead. Sorry for being blunt. I don't know how else to say it, but I wanted you to find out from me. If Damon already told you, you're allowed to kick his ass for me. 

Elena glanced up from the letter when she found an equally human Damon standing in front of her by the Salvatore crypt. She smiled as she saw him, pushing her diary containing the letter in her bag. He probably meant well, but still please kick his ass. 

I'll save you the gory details, I'm sure the others can inform you of that. They've gotta be over my death by the time you're awake. She walked towards him as he held his hand out for her so they could leave it all behind, the whole human life in the world for the thought of finally finding peace. 

Damon and Elena walked away from the cemetery over into the bright and familiar streets of Mystic Falls. They smiled, the doppelganger's short, straight hair being blown in the wind. At first I was scared that I would never find you, my twin sister, again. But then I understood that I was wrong. Because peace exists. 

Damon suddenly disappeared from Elena as she furrowed her brows in confusion, wondering why he suddenly disappeared from her. But when she turned around to look the other way, all worries of him disappeared from her mind when she saw her old house. 

It lives in everything we hold dear. Not knowing what else to do, Elena walked up the steps to the house. She wasn't sure what she expected to find there, if anyone would be there for her peace to be complete. She hesitantly knocked on the door of her own house, not knowing what to do when you're in the peace-dimension. 

It took a few moments, but then somebody opened the door. The one who opened was another brunette, only her hair was a tiny bit longer and with waves rushing through it. Natalie smiled a bit, looking at her older twin sister as if she had been expecting her for a long time, which she had. "Hi."

Elena didn't say a word. She only grinned widely, throwing her arms around her sister. She had always thought that maybe her peace would lie and in Damon and their life together. But standing there, with her sister, she understood that peace existed in family, in the thought of the one she needed most.  

That is the promise of peace. Natalie returned the embrace, giggling as she held onto the feeling of peace with her sister, after the small amount of time they had gotten to spend together, family was still the most important thing and they found family in each other. That one day, after a long life, we find each other again.

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A/N: Because you guys wanted it, and I had it imagined in my head anyway. Don't say I never gave you anything. And if you haven't watched the whole show yet, this epilogue is based on 8x16 "I Was Feeling Epic", the final episode of the whole show. 

Oh, and by the way, I never said anything about it, but thank you so much to everyone who nominated this book (and the first one too) for the TVD Fanfiction Awards for 2017 as Best Stefan Salvatore Fic.  Thank you. And to that one person who also nominated Natalie was best character death, I feel honored. Thank you so much to all of you. To the ones who don't know what I'm talking about, it's at TVDCommunity

This is going to be a bit boring one as I thought the last chapter would be the last, but I will still follow through with my traditions and say that votes and comments are greatly appreciated.