Casting Shadows

Chapter 19 – Endings

I never truly thought about how I would die. I knew that once I destroyed the Other Side I would take the cure and kill myself to be reunited with my love. It was simple. All my centuries trapped on that Island my only thought was of dying to be with Amara.

I never expected to fall in love with her shadow self.

I never expected to feel so alive with Caroline.

I never even suspected that I would feel for the most fleeting and beautiful of moments that I would want to live on this earth for her. For Caroline. I would have gladly have spent my time by her side.

But it was not to be.

Caroline Forbes had easily and without any actual effort on her part taken my heart as her own. But the same could not be said about her, she was in love with my doppelgänger, and cared for me as a friend, though that was a precious gift all on its own. She would never truly know how deep my love for her went.

I am happy for having known her at all.

For those months I was out of that tomb... I actually lived. I cared, for Caroline I would have done anything. I even told her that the prophecy never applied to her and Stefan so that she would be reassured that my shadow self loved her for her.

I gave her a push in the direction of Stefan, though I loved her more than I thought I could do. All I wanted was her happiness. Now that she is safely back in the land of the living with all of her friends I was sure that she was indeed happy.

I had ended my life in a heroic act.

Seriously.

I am no hero.

Ever since I left that tomb I had murdered, maimed, and tortured to get what I want. Only I didn't get what I want, not the way I wanted it anyway. Qetsiyah that bitch, prevented me once again reuniting with my long lost love. My anger at Tessa will never be any less than pure hot rage. She stole the love of my life. She made me think that Amara was dead for two thousand years, when in fact she was still immortal and suffering an eternity of pain as the anchor to the Other Side.

I don't know what happened to Tessa when the Other Side collapsed, I hoped she was sucked into oblivion before she could find any semblance of peace. I hated her, and I was very much looking forward to torturing her by constantly reminding her that I had fallen for not one but two versions of Amara, and still I would never love her. Ever. The held back tears on her face had been satisfying to say the least.

I am vindictive, evil, bloodthirsty, full of rage, passionate, cunning, arrogant.

I am the villain of this story.

But for one single moment... I sacrificed myself to save the woman I loved... and her friends...

I, Silas, died as a hero.

And now I am in nothingness...

Stefan still had his arms wrapped firmly around Caroline's waist as he lovingly kissed her lips with no intention of leaving them anytime soon. She was dead, and now she was back. He could never lose her again, it had almost wrecked him and he had the tiniest hope that she could be brought back, if anything happened again it would destroy him. There was no Other Side any more, when a supernatural died they would either find peace or... he had no clue. Oblivion? Hell? Nothing? He didn't know, and would like to never find out.

Caroline couldn't stop the trickle of tears from falling down her cheeks as she kissed Stefan back with every single ounce of love held within her soul for the beautiful man she was wrapped around. He was worth dying for. Now that she was back, she would never leave him again. She'd died for him, now she would live every single moment by his side.

Elena's face was full of tears as she looked at Damon, "I thought I'd lost you forever."

Damon cradled her face between his palms, gazing passionately into her eyes as he smiled, "I promised, didn't I?"

Elena nodded, her voice choked full of emotion, "You kept your promise."

Damon pulled her to him as he slid his mouth over hers and kissed her breathless.

Jeremy stared at Bonnie in amazement, he was afraid he would never see her again. He smiled at her, his eyes happy and sparkling, "I can't believe that whatever Liv did worked."

"Jer..." Bonnie shook her head, her eyes wide in disbelief, "There was never any spell. There was nothing anyone could do for me. I was going to die," she shrugged her shoulders, "again."

"You lied to me?" Jeremy almost shouted, his heart aching in his chest, "You're gonna die. Again." He shook his head, "NO! No! I won't let it happen."

"It did happen, Jer." Bonnie's eyes were wide, "I shouldn't be standing here in front of you right now. I should be dead."

"Then why aren't you?" Jeremy asked, he needed to know if this was permanent or if she was going to be ripped away from him again.

Caroline finally released Stefan as she heard Jeremy's question. She dropped her legs, and turned her back to him as she faced her friends. She smiled as she felt Stefan curl his arms around her waist, the feel of him surrounding her making her feel so much better.

Bonnie met Caroline's eyes over Jeremy's shoulder, his eyes wide in shock, "It was Silas. He saved us all." She narrowed her eyes at the little smile on her lips and couldn't help but add, "I still hate him though. I always will."

"That's okay, Bonnie. You don't have to like him." Caroline smiled back in reassurance, "I know that I am the only one who cared about him." She couldn't help but smile even as she felt a pang in her heart, "But I will always be grateful for him bringing us all back."

"How?" Jeremy asked, wanting to know what happened on the Other Side in those final moments, "How did he save you."

"I felt something..." Bonnie tilted her head as she thought over that last moment before they all came back and Silas was engulfed in a bright white light, "Something inside of me was pulled away only to be filled... with life."

"I don't understand." Elena frowned in confusion, "What did he do?"

"I think..." Bonnie was unsure of what exactly Silas did, but it felt similar to what Tessa had done when she made her the anchor, "I think that the moment I touched Caroline and Damon to bring them back, Silas released the remaining power within him, and switched with me."

"Switched with you?" Stefan asked, creasing his brow in confusion, "What do you mean?"

"He became the anchor after we all came back..." Bonnie thought about what the white light usually meant for those on the Other Side, "And I think he found peace."

"The white light..." Caroline gasped, she recalled Silas being bathed in the purest white light she'd ever seen, "You think that meant he found peace?"

"I can't know for sure." Bonnie shrugged her shoulders, she would never know for sure.

"I hope he's with Amara now." Caroline smiled through her tears, turning her gaze towards the stars, imagining perhaps two twinkling lights to be the eternity they had always wanted, and sent a thought to Silas meaning it with all her heart, thank you, Silas. Be at peace. Be happy with Amara.

"Well..." Lexi finally spoke up, a grin on her face as she looped her arm through Alaric's who sent her an amused look, "As a newly alive vampire for the first time in years... I vote that we all get drunk!"

Alaric chuckled, "I second that."

"I knew you would." Lexi winked, her voice light with flirting.

"Do you even have to ask?" Damon grinned, his eyes even happier when he met Alaric's, a hole in his heart that was his best friend had finally been filled, "I missed my drinking buddy."

Elena couldn't keep the smile off her face. Alaric was alive, Lexi was alive, Caroline was also back from the dead. Everyone was back. She would never take for granted the second chance they'd all been given, and she knew that this was the only one they would ever get. If anyone died again, there was no getting them back, because there was nowhere to get them back from. They would just have to live their lives to the fullest. No regrets.

Damon smiled as he felt Elena's arm come around his waist, his own curling around her shoulders to pull her into his side. He kissed the top of her head, breathing her in for a moment to realize just how lucky he was. For a moment there he thought he wouldn't make it back, when it was just him, Caroline, Bonnie, and Silas, he thought that they would all be stuck and that it was the end for all of them. Thanks to Silas it wasn't, though he's sure that Bonnie would have sent him and Caroline over and sacrificed herself for the hundredth time. None of them deserved the friend that Bonnie was to them all.

Jeremy interlaced his fingers with Bonnie, and walked with her to wherever the hell they were going as he's pretty sure that all the vampires in the group could not enter Mystic Falls. But he didn't care right now. All he cared about was Bonnie, who was safe and alive and he ad the chance to keep on loving her.

Bonnie rest her head on Jeremy's shoulder, exhausted from the day she'd just had, but also elated that those that were previously lost and now with them again. Alaric was back and immediately she could detect the changes in Damon, Elena, and Jeremy. Damon looked as if a weight had been lifted off his shoulders, the curve of his lips less of a smirk and more of a smile. Elena was out and out grinning, her eyes straying between Alaric and Damon, because she didn't want to let them out of her sight, Bonnie could tell. Jeremy... Jeremy was smiling, he was happy, and she knew that part of that was her, and the other part was Alaric being back.

Stefan tightened his hold around Caroline as he watched their friends walk off together. He wanted to join them, but he needed to just hold his girl for a little longer. It still amazed him that she was truly back, he had seen her heart ripped from her chest, and now it was back where it belonged. He raised a hand from her stomach to rest over her heart, his eyes closing as he counted the rhythm. It was the most beautiful sound he had ever heard.

Caroline leaned back against him, tilting her head up so that she could nuzzle against his neck, humming against him as she breathed in his scent, "You okay?"

"You're alive and in my arms." Stefan rest his head against hers, his fingers lightly caressing her stomach with gentle touches, "I don't think I could be happier other than if this was our wedding day."

Caroline froze and gasped, her heart thudding wildly in her chest. Stefan had just unknowingly told her that one day he would like to marry her. A smile bloomed on her face.

Stefan's fingers trembled against her skin, his breathing quickening as he'd realised what he'd said. He didn't regret it, he meant it with every fibre of his being. One day, sometime in the future, he would make Caroline his wife, and he would be with her for the rest of eternity. She was it for him. Proven even more by the fact that when she died it felt like he lost part of himself. He didn't want to live without her, he couldn't, and he would make sure that never happened again.

They were meant to be forever.

Caroline turned around in his arms, took his face between her palms, and tenderly brushed their lips together. She told him without words that she had thought about it too, that one day she would every much like for Stefan to be her husband, and for them to spend their eternity together. Loving each other for every single minute of every single day.

Stefan smiled against her lips before he pulled his head back to look in her blue eyes, "I want to spend the rest of my life with you, Caroline." He brushed his thumb along her cheek, relishing of the softness of her skin against the pad of his thumb, "I love you so much."

"I love you too, Stefan." Caroline wrapped her arms around his neck, pulling them ever closer together so that she was pressed completely against him. She bit her lip to hide the width of her grin, her fingers stroking absently at the hair at the back of his neck, as she looked into those green eyes she adored, "I want nothing more than to be with you for eternity."

"I'm yours." Stefan met her lips for a tender kiss, pulling back to tell her, "And you're mine." Before kissing her softly again.

Caroline moaned, their lips moving passionately against one another, her hands moving across his back. She smiled as she pulled back, nuzzling her nose against his as she repeated his words, "You are mine, and I am most definitely yours."

Stefan grinned before covering her mouth with his, one hand cupping her cheek as he curled the other around her waist to hold her firmly against him.

Who knew that being trapped in a safe by his evil doppelgänger, and having his memories stolen by the bitch who'd loved the originator of his face, would turn into one of the best things that had ever happened to him?

He knew that he and Caroline were always meant to be together. But if not for the dreams in the safe, his amnesia self falling for her so deeply, he remembering himself and knowing that he had been in love with her for a very long time, who knows how long it would have taken them to admit their feelings for one another.

But it didn't matter any more.

Caroline was his, and Stefan was hers.

Their forever started right now.

I don't know how long I was in this blackness. It felt almost like I had been floating for what both felt like a millennia and only seconds. It was the nothingness, there was no light, not a speck, only darkness that surrounds me.

I couldn't see anything, I couldn't hear anything, and I certainly couldn't touch anything.

I was absorbed within the black. Darkness on all sides, just as I had been for two thousands years, before a speck of light invaded my heart and brought the full on sunshine into my life for the too briefest of moments.

Caroline.

She was the light in the dark.

Just not for me.

My own light seemed even further away now that I was trapped somewhere worse then purgatory.

Amara...

Just then I heard a pop, and a tiny strip of light was open what looked like miles in front of me. I did not know how to get to it as I couldn't move. Then it started to rotate in a circle, moving faster and faster that even vampire speed would struggle to match its speed.

The spinning allowed more and more light to enter my dark prison, the walls of black seeming to vibrate now that the frequency of light was now gaining ever nearer. The closer it came the more calmer I became. There was no need to panic.

I am dead.

The light would either be salvation or damnation.

I am ready for both.

I close my eyes, relaxed my body. I can see the swirling mass of colour beneath my closed eyes.

One last thought.

I love you...

Silas opened his eyes, and then squinted at the beaming sun in his eyes. Where was he? He pushed himself to a sitting position, and looked around. His eyes widened in disbelief.

He was home.

Greece.

Two thousand years ago.

He got to his feet, and then promptly stumbled as he looked up.

Amara.

"Silas..." Amara smiled, her blue eyes softly glowing with love, "I have been waiting for you, my love."

Silas ran to her, his hand gliding into her blonde hair, and pulling her to his lips as he kissed her with a frenzy he didn't think was possible.

Amara accepted his touches with ease, her own hands gliding over his back, and through his hair to repeat the pattern again. It had been so long since she could simple enjoy being with him.

"Amara..." Silas looked deeply into her eyes, needing to know where he was, and why she was here, "Am I..."

Amara smiled encouragingly, her face soft and loving, "Go on."

"Are we at peace?" Silas asked, stroking his hands down her sides as he waited for her answer.

"We are." Amara grinned, raising her hands to caress the side of his face, "We have both suffered greatly in our two thousand years alive." She kissed him gently, lips moving slowly against his before pulling away, "I think we deserve to be happy for at least as long."

Silas grinned, nuzzling his nose against hers, "I love you, Amara."

"I love you too, Silas." Amara replied, pulling him back to her lips to share in their love for one another.

It took them over two thousand years spent apart to find their happy ending.

THE END

AN – Thank you all so much for reading and loving this story as much as I have loved writing it. I loved all your reviews and comments. You all made me very happy. I hope you are satisfied with the ending.