A/N: This is the last shot in this little saga. Enjoy!

The Red Road
Chapter 5
~Beautiful Lies~

Damon's POV…

I sit on the coffee table and rest my cup against my knee. I keep my eyes on the girl sleeping in front of me while my mind continues to race with uncontrollable thoughts. Kenna should have woken up by now.

"The infection must have been worse than I thought." Klaus sighs as he sits down next to me.

"Yeah." I glance at him.

"Damon."

I look up with little interest and see Elena standing in the foyer. She smiles lightly but it doesn't reach her eyes.

"We need to talk." She says loud enough for me to hear.

"Not now, Elena." I shake my head as I return my attention to Kenna.

"Yes, now. It's kind of urgent." Elena sighed and walked out of view.

"Better go, mate." Klaus claps me on the back. "I'll look after sleeping beauty."

I stand reluctantly and follow Elena to one of the spare bedrooms. She folds her arms over her chest as I close the door behind me.

"Enzo's taking Kenna with him. I don't know where they're going or why but they are leaving." Elena paused as her gaze dropped to the floor. "And I need you to let her go."

"What?" I narrow my eyes and take a step forward.

"It's better for everyone Damon, especially you."

"How is it better for me? I want to try to fix things and I can't do that if she's living in a different country!"

"If you can't see how it's better for yourself, try to see how it would be better for Kenna." Elena took my hand in hers. "She needs a fresh start and the only way she's going to get that is if she leaves."

"You don't know that. She could have a life here." I shake my head slowly.

"She might have learned how to forgive you, Damon, but she will never forget what you did to her." Elena said, her voice even and soft. I knew she was telling the truth.

I didn't know how to respond. Elena was right but I didn't want to accept it. My guilt was the only thing stopping me from letting Kenna go and I wasn't sure if I was going to be able to overlook that.

I walk out of the room and back to the living room. As I cross through the foyer, the front door swings open. Enzo and Elijah step inside together.

"How is she?" Enzo asks as he walks towards the living room.

"She's still asleep but she's healing." Klaus responds for me. I follow Elijah into the room and stand by the foot of the couch.

"Did Elena talk to you?" Enzo looks up at me. I meet his eyes and nod.

"Yes."

"I think I'm going to take her to Italy first then Australia. You know, give her a change of scenery and let her live a little." Enzo returns his gaze to Kenna.

"You should try to see if she has any living descendants in Australia while you're there." I lean against the couch. I remember when Kenna told me about the place she grew up.

"She was an orphan when we met her." Klaus tells no one in particular. Elijah nods in agreement.

"Her family was slaughtered when she was just a child. She was the only one who survive." Elijah explains solemnly.

"She never…" I start.

"She didn't like to talk about it." Elijah says as he sits on the couch by her feet.

Suddenly, Kenna takes a sharp breath and her eyes flutter open.

Kenna's POV…

I have to blink a few times to make sure that what I'm seeing is real, Klaus, Elijah, Enzo, and Damon all sitting in the same room. After they watch me for a couple seconds, Klaus helps me sit up.

I try to move around a little but my entire body is sore. I guess having a near death experience does that to people.

"Enzo." I smile when I see him standing behind Klaus. He returns my smile as he walks closer to me.

He seems kind of surprised when I pull him into a hug but he wraps his arms around me protectively.

"How are you feeling?" He asks as we separate.

"Sore but alive." I give a small shrug.

When everything falls silent, I look at Damon. He avoids my gaze for a moment but eventually raises his eyes to meet mine.

"Is Stefan, Caroline, and Elena okay?" I ask quietly, unsure if saying anything else would be a good idea.

"They're fine." Damon responds.

I run my fingers through my hair as I give a tiny nod. The silence that follows can only be described as awkward.

"I packed our things, Kenna. We have a flight to Rome in a couple hours." Enzo told me in a calm voice as if he was afraid it would anger me.

I purse my lips into a thin line. "Okay."

Enzo raises an eyebrow, obviously surprised. "I thought you'd fight me on this."

"Me too." I smile. "But leaving is a good idea."

"You can stay, Kenna."

I'm stunned to hear the words come out of Damon's mouth. I thought that he would be celebrating that I wanted to leave Mystic Falls since he never really wanted me here in the first place.

I look at all the prying eyes in the room and clear my throat. "Can you guys give us a minute?"

Everyone mumbles words of obedience before walking out of the living room. I pull my knees to my chest and gesture for Damon to sit.

"Why do you want me to stay?" I decide to start off easy. When he hesitates to answer I add, "I tried to kill you and would have if Elijah and Klaus didn't stop me."

"I don't want it to end this way." Damon responds in a hushed voice. I can't help but laugh lightly.

"Well, the legacy of Kenna von Dohren and Damon Salvatore isn't really that great. It's not like we'd be tarnishing it or anything." I shrug and hug my knees closer to my chest.

"I know. I just… I don't want this to another thing that I regret."

"You shouldn't regret letting me leave, Damon. It's what I want. And if you're allowing me to do what I want, it's an act of kindness. Definitely not something you should regret."

"But I want to have the chance to make things right with you." Damon pauses, his eyes falling to the couch. "I don't want to be another person that let you down."

I bite down on my lower lip and sigh quietly. "I'm sorry, Damon, but you already are. I mean I fell in love with you. You let me fall in love with you. You gained my trust only to destroy everything we had so you could be free."

"I'm so…" He starts but I hold up a hand to stop him.

"No. Let me talk because I need to get this out once and for all." I take a deep breath and squeeze my knees together a little. "I don't even really blame you for what happened because I know that if it was me, I would have done the same thing as you. Because I saw the way you looked at me and I saw the pain. And I've seen the same look every night in my dreams for the past fifty years, Damon. There isn't a night that goes by that I don't think about you. Every night I try to figure out how I would have done it differently but I realized that there was no other way. And as much as I've tried to find a way to hate… to really hate you, I never could. I will always love you, Damon. No matter where I go, no matter what I do, no matter what you do. I will always care about you and that is why I have to leave, that's why you have to let me leave. I can't move on if part of me is stuck in the past."

Damon takes a while to answer but I don't rush him. I wipe away the tears that have begun to form in my eyes and lean my head against my knees.

"I know." Damon finally looks up at me. "I know I have to let you go and I'm going to. I just want you to be happy, Kenna. You deserve to be happy."

"I'll make sure she is, mate." Enzo's voice cuts through the silence.

I smile up at him, thankful for his reassurance.

"What time is our flight?" I ask him as he steps into the living room.

"Ten." He slumps down on the couch after I make room.

"Where is everyone? I want to apologize for what I did." I look at Damon.

"They're upstairs." He stands up and starts out of the room. "I'll get them."

"Did you actually make some friends here?" Enzo raises an eyebrow.

I give a small laugh. "I wouldn't say friends but I know that they're all good people, even Elena."

"We're not coming back any time soon so make sure this goodbye is good enough to last." Enzo nudges me lightly.

Damon reenters the living room with Stefan, Caroline, Elena, Bonnie, and Jeremy on his heels. They all pile in and find a seat.

While I wasn't in Mystic Falls long, I did get to know the people sitting in front of me. Jeremy and Caroline were always kind to me and Stefan never made me feel excluded. Elena was always hesitant but never mean and Bonnie's constant smile made me feel like I belonged here. I knew they weren't my friends but for a short while, it felt like they were.

"I just wanted to say that I am truly sorry for everything I did." I paused as I glanced around the room. "I think that if I wasn't so focused on getting revenge then I might have actually had a chance at having a life here."

"You still can. You don't have to go." Jeremy spoke up first.

I smiled at the youngest Gilbert. "Yeah, I do. Mystic Falls is your guys' home, not mine."

"All I have to say is that I will miss you." Caroline stands up and joins me on the couch. She gives me a short hug. "And I'm sad to see you go and I think we could have been really good friends."

"Me too." I smile as I hug her back.

"And I think I speak for everyone when I say that you'll always be welcomed back here." Bonnie says and my smile widens.

"Yeah. I don't think you'll ever need to worry about finding a place to live." Jeremy adds quickly. I stand up and gesture to everyone.

"I know it's lame but I think this deserves a group hug."

No one hesitates to get up from their seat and join in the group hug, except Elena. She remains in her seat while I finish saying goodbye to everyone.

Enzo helps me to the door after I finish and I make my way outside.

"Kenna, wait!" I hear someone yell from behind me.

I spin on the porch to see Elena following me outside. I narrow my eyes when she approaches me.

"I'm sorry for not giving you a chance."

I can tell she's genuinely sorry so I shake my head. "You had every right to be cautious with me. I tried to kill your boyfriend."

"I think I was just jealous because I saw how he accepted you back into his life so easily." Elena explains with a timid voice.

"You guys might have broken up but Damon still loves you. And I'm positive that he'll continue to fight for you." I pause and put reassuring hand on her arm. "You have nothing to worry about."

"Caroline's right, you know. I think we could have been really good friends." Elena gives me one of those smiles that would make someone want to believe anything they hear.

I nod. "Who knows? Maybe in a couple hundred years I'll come back and we can start over."

We both give a small laugh. Elena surprises me when she pulls me into a hug.

"You'll always be welcomed back. No matter how far into the future you return." Elena says as we embrace.

"Thank you." I smile when we separate and Enzo politely clears his throat.

"We have to get going if we want to make that flight."

"Tell everyone that I said I said I'll miss them." I say to Elena before turning to Enzo and his most likely stolen car.

I wait as Enzo puts the entire luggage in the back of the car and closes the trunk.

"Are you going to leave without saying goodbye?" A voice says from behind me.

I turn to face Elijah and Klaus. I had wondered where they had gone.

"No." I take a couple careful steps towards them. I glance back at Enzo and ask for a couple minutes to say goodbye. He gets into the front seat and closes the door. Enzo always trusted me. It was one of the things I always cherished in our relationship.

"We have a lot to talk about but not a lot of time." I sigh quietly.

"Let me start off by saying that I'm sorry." Klaus' words caused me to do a double take.

"Did you just apologize?" I raised an eyebrow teasingly.

"Don't get too used to it." Klaus warned with a smile. "But yes, I did."

"I will never get used to hearing that." I assured him.

"And Elijah had no idea that you were alive. Not until Caroline called about you." Klaus told me and we both looked at Elijah.

He was already looking at me so our eyes met instantly.

"I'll give you two a minute." Klaus said before disappearing into thin air. Another perk of being a vampire.

I didn't know what to say to the first man I had ever loved so I was thankful when he decided to speak first.

"I am truly sorry about what my brother did to you and that I didn't find out sooner." He reached down and took my hand in his warily. "I would have never stopped looking for you if I knew you were still alive."

I link my fingers through his; I'm surprised they still fit together like machine parts. "I know, Elijah. I'm just glad that you were here to stop me from making such a big mistake."

"You were the first person to show me that I could love again after Tatia." Elijah rests his hand against my cheek. "I will always love you."

"Good. Because so will I." I force a light smile and keep my eyes on his.

"You know that Klaus only did what he did because he loved you."

"You don't hurt people like that if you truly love them." I tell Elijah. "He didn't love me. He only thought he did. I think he just wanted to feel human again and falling for a human was the next best thing."

Elijah nods. "You thought about this a lot, didn't you?"

I laugh lightly. "Eighty three years in a cell can give you a lot of time to think about your past."

"And what was your conclusion about us?"

My response popped into my head immediately. "I don't think we ever could have been truly happy together." Elijah was obviously hurt by my realization but I continued anyways. "You were a vampire and I was a human who never wanted to become immortal. I think our relationship would have ended in heartbreak, even if Klaus hadn't interfered."

"I guess we'll never find out what would have happened if things had turned out differently." Elijah forces a weak smile.

"No. I guess not." He downcasts his gaze to the floor.

I place my fingers under his chin and lift his head so his eyes meet mine again. "You were the first person I ever fell in love with. You made me feel like the most important person in the world and I can repay you for that. Thank you."

Elijah's lips turn up into a hesitant smile as he cups my face in his hands. I suck in a deep breath as he leans down and presses his lips to mine. I don't hesitate to kiss him back. When he finally pulls away and breaks our contact I get this overwhelming feeling that something is missing. Something that could never be replaced. He would always be my first love.

"Good bye." Elijah whispers as he steps back.

"Bye." I breathe before turning back to the car.

Enzo smiles when I look at him through the car window. I open the passenger side door and slide into the seat with a sigh.

"You okay?" Enzo asks in a hushed tone.

I glance out the window at the house. I purse my lips when I see Elijah standing on the porch. I force a light smile and give a tiny wave as my eyes begin to sting. Elijah retreated into the house and I turn back to Enzo before the tears begin to well up.

"Can we go please?"

Enzo lets go of the steering wheel and takes my hands in his. I look up at him and recognize the concerned expression. He's given it to me hundreds of times. "We don't have to leave if you don't want to."

"But I want to go. I want to go and I want to travel the world with you, Enzo." I smiled and let out a sigh of relief. "I finally get this chance to be free and you are the only person I would ever want to spend the rest of my life with. And that's only because I… I love you."

It was the entire truth. Enzo was the only person I would trust with my life. He's the only person who made me want to keep living when we were stuck at Augustine. He was the one who made it possible for me to cling to my humanity. He could make me laugh when I felt like I was about to cry and he made me laugh until I cried. He made me truly happy and he even managed to do the inevitable; he'd fixed what Damon had broken so long ago. I knew that it was hard to find people who will love you no matter what. But I knew that I had found that with Enzo and I could assure him that he had found that with me.

"I love you too." Enzo replies without hesitation.

I reach up and rest my hand against his cheek. We both smile and lean in, our lips meeting in a light kiss. I'm slightly surprised that our lips fit together like two puzzle pieces. When I sit back in my seat finally, I know that it wouldn't be our last kiss. I got an amazing feeling that Enzo was the one I would spend the rest of my life with.

"Let's get out of here." I smile as I pull my seat belt over my chest. "Don't want to miss our flight.

Enzo returns the smile and starts the car. "Definitely not."

He peels out of the driveway and heads down the street. I open my window and glance out the window. Enzo takes my hand and gives a light squeeze. I let out a sigh of relief as I we flash by the houses lining the street. Leaving Mystic Falls and Augustine behind wasn't a bad thing. It meant that I was finally getting my shot at being truly happy. And I was going to take full advantage of it.

That was the final shot. I hope everyone enjoyed reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it. I know some parts were cheesy and far-fetched but I just wanted to give this a happy ending. And I know that a lot of people want me to continue past this last shot but I didn't really put much wiggle room for that. But if anyone has ideas of how I could do that, feel free to tell me in a review. I will definitely consider continuing this story if I get a get a good idea or if I hear one. So review if you want. Lastly, I have some other fanfic stories on here (all updated) and based on TVD or The 100 so check em out if you can. Thanks for reading!