Chapter 1: Always & Forever

"Always and forever was the greatest mistake of your life."

The scene was eerie as she floated through the empty city streets. She could hear the echo of a trumpet coming from somewhere but she didn't have a clue where. Still, the heavy jazz tune was soothing as her brown knee-high boots stepped on broken green and gold beads as well as smashed beer bottles. "Is anyone here?" She asked as she heard noises coming from the shadows. "Elena, you're a vampire? Why are you scared?" She scolded herself as her foot landed on something different in texture.

A simple piece of untouched paper…

She looked down at it and felt the overcoming urge to pick it up. Then, she realized she had no control over her actions. She grabbed the letter from the ground, reading:

Elena,

Today I did things I abhor to protect the one thing I value most, my family. If anyone can understand it, it's you. Your compassion is a gift, Elena. Carry it with you, as I will carry my regret.

Always and forever,

Elijah.

The letter started to burn in her fingers as her eyes started to tear up- again, out of her control until only three words remained in her hands.

Always & Forever.

She inhaled as she pressed the large cup button on her Keurig machine, squinting her eyes as the loud noise of water squeezing through the opening echoed throughout the dorm room. She heard Caroline shuffle in her sheets, and eventually wake up with an even louder yawn. "Hey." She said shortly. Caroline hadn't really said much to Elena since Elena returned from the other-side- no one really said much to her. Damon ended things because of his guilt…and possibly the fact he eats vampires these days. Stefan avoided her at all costs because of his embarrassment. Bonnie and Jeremy were out all the time. Bonnie hadn't said seven words to Elena for her own reasons.

More than anything, Elena felt alone as if she were still on the other-side watching someone else live her life.

"Hey." Elena responded, "Um…This is a weird question…Have you heard from Klaus?" She asked awkwardly as she took a sip from her blue polka-dot mug. Caroline's face distorted as if Elena had openly cursed her or something.

"No, why would you ask that?" Caroline asked angrily, throwing her comforter over her body and putting her feet into her slippers. She huffed, grabbing things around the dorm and then walked out slamming the door.

"…Could you tell me how Elijah is?" She whispered into her coffee as the door slammed. She sighed as she set it down, closing her eyes. She talked to herself a lot these days, "I have something to tell you." She would start as her friends ran off to live their lives, "While I was away, I ran into a mutual acquaintance- Esther. And…" The part where her tears would surface in her eyes would begin, "She did something to me-she changed me and I don't know how to fix myself anymore."

No one could hear her confession and no one could catch her tears. She would just sit in her dorm room or go to class- anything that followed the motions. Esther ruined Elena Gilbert- Esther ripped away any of the remaining shreds she had of her life.

You have to save my children Elena…you have to save my children. You will save my children…

Elena never knew witches had so much foothold on the biological makeup of a vampire, but Esther could. Analogy based, Vampires: Hybrids::Caroline: Elena. She was now a freak vampire, like Klaus. Actually, worse than Klaus- because Klaus only had two supernatural aspects in his DNA. Elena had three.

First, Esther transferred her magic to Elena making her just as powerful- just as able to do dangerous spells like Bonnie, probably even more dangerous. Then, she decided to make Elena into a werewolf hybrid-she said it was so she could atone for the murder of her lover. As if Klaus wasn't representation enough of her past affairs. She also said her reasoning was so her son didn't feel alone. Although, Elena didn't understand that either because Klaus was about to have a lot more hybrids walking around due to the impregnation of Hayley.

Once Elena's transformation was completed she had a lot of time to listen to the others in the depths of the other side. She would listen to her friend's hang out with Katherine, watch as Katherine destroyed her reputation among the people she loved. She even watched Damon crumble into himself and ruin his life and she longed to save him from the pain he was feeling, but she couldn't.

Then one day, Elena woke up in her body surrounded by the people she loved. She tried to forget about what was going on in her body. She would hide from her friend's when her eyes started to glow that hybrid yellow, or when the magic would take over her reasoning and break a glass or catch a small fire in the dorm room. That's when being alone had its perks. Elena would just lose control sometimes when she thought about what was really going on inside of her.

Elena put her coffee cup on a coaster and headed for the shower where she could gather her thoughts, but all she could think about was Esther and soon her thoughts shifted to Elijah and she smiled for a few moments when she recalled their past moments together.

But those words rang in her head like a promise she had to uphold: Always & Forever. As in, Elena was part of the group- part of the promise Elijah had made to his siblings so long ago- a promise he had made to her.

Slowly, an unsettling feeling came through Elena's body- because dreams like that just don't happen.