This Vampire Diaries story is AU with some OCs of mine. The Vampire Diaries and the cast belong to L.J. Smith and the CW. This story takes place at the end of S3 (with the car accident) but with my own twists, rules and additional characters.

I plan to update this every one to two weeks, but reviews will help me write! I have ideas for where this story will go but I want to hear from Elena/Elijah fans. I really wished this would have been canon, but at least I can write my own universe! Enjoy!

Cover image by Deviantartist: neangel16

I guess it's ironic that I'm here now.

Matt and Jeremy were trying to protect me, to get me as far away from Mystic Falls as they could manage… to save me from this life that I've been cursed with.

And yet, Mystic Falls wouldn't let me go. Her hold on my life was absolute and unfaltering.

It has been a year and a half coming. I was supposed to die in this lake with my parents on May 23, 2009. Stefan Salvatore saved me and kept Jeremy with at least one of us three attending the wake.

Awake. Was Stefan even alive any longer? Was Damon or Caroline?

Ugh. The glass won't break and Matt seems to be unconscious. He likely has four minutes until he suffers irreversible brain damage. How long until I pass out?

My life is ending.

I see my parents… Jeremy and Jenna… we're all in the yard tossing a football. Dad wants Jeremy to join the team. Mom calls me in to help with dinner.

"Honey, have you talked to Matt?" She said.

"No, mom… I can't, at least not yet," I replied pouring sour cream and onion Ruffles into a bowl. "I'll get around to it."

"You don't have forever—"

Those words echoed in my mind. Not forever. I couldn't decide about Matt and now I can't decide about Stefan and Damon.

Why was it so hard to choose just one…? They would have been better off if I just told them neither one would have me as theirs. I love them both and we look out for each other. Couldn't that be enough?

The glass still won't break. I miss Jenna. She was there for me and Jeremy through some dark times. Esther said she found peace. Would I find peace?

I am almost out of breath, though it seems easier this time. After all, Stefan, a supernatural being, was the only reason that I made it from the accident last time. It wasn't meant to be.

"Ste-ff-an?" I gurgled with some of the final reserves of my breath. He was here; he was here again to save me.

No. I have been saved before, I had my second chance. Matt needs to live. Matt is the only one of us who might actually have a chance at a normal life.

Stefan was trying to grab my arm. I shook my head 'no' and helped him unbuckle Matt. Stefan grabbed him underneath his shoulders and swam to the surface.

It was getting darker. A voice was calming me… telling me that it was going to be alright. I recognized the voice but could not quite place a name.

"Shh, Elena. It'll be alright, my darling." The voice seemed to fade away as did my vision of the ornaments floating from Matt's rearview mirror. "I love you."

A/N: This is a thought, a memory. The story will not all be in italics, for those who were wondering. I will use this format for inner monologues or flashbacks as necessary in the story.