This is my first ever story, published on and I hope it's a good start to many more.

Elena grazed the surface of the letter and felt her breath tremble beneath all the silence. Then her mind wandered to the thought of him and where he was that very second. He could've been anywhere, doing anything. That must be one of the perks of being a vampire, she thought. Having the ability to escape the world within seconds is something Elena truly wish she could pull off. But she was human. And humans needed to suffer, they needed to feel everything in order to truly understand the broken world. Somehow, Elena wanted to see Elijah vulnerable. She wanted to see how much emotion he could show within those few seconds of release. The letter proved that even he, an Original who once didn't believe in love, could feel. And feel, she did.

Elena stood up from her window and placed the letter on her bed sheets. Her desire to sleep was decreasing as she snatched her coat from the bed side hanger and left the Gilbert residence without looking back. She needed to see him.

The girl parked her car, just a mere two blocks away from the mansion, trying to avoid the engine from being heard by any nearby vampires. She got out of the car and exhaled a cold breath into the atmosphere. It was surprisingly cold that night. Elena walked slowly to the mansion gates and realised it was locked, causing her to flinch in annoyance. She looked ahead and realised all the lights in the house were still on, and sighed as she thought if Elijah was in one of those rooms.

Suddenly, she heard slow footsteps.. Then a rough voice expelled from behind, "Elena..."She turned around, startled, when she discovered Elijah, who wore a confused expression on his face. Elena assured a sad smile on her visage and said, "Hey..."

The confusion weared off his face and replaced it with a tone of sadness as he remembered the note that he left for Elena, earlier that night. He muttered, "You should be at home, Elena. It's been a long day..." His last word broke off with a slight melancholy to his voice while he hurried past her, heading towards the metal gates.

Elena took a while to respond before she turned around and mumbled to his back, with desperation, "Wait...please," Elijah's footsteps slowed down, hesitating to look back towards the fragile human. Eventually he was able to lock eyes again with her, although anyone but Elena couldn't see the conflict beginning to unveil across his face.

"Why did you come here?" he said, with his utmost bluntness.

Elena surrendered her defence and mumbled, "Well you left me a note... You didn't think it was only a matter of time until I confronted you about it?"

Elijah was silent, though his eyes always had the ability to show and tell more than he could say. Elena pursed her lips and tilted her head, while she closed the distance between them until they were only four feet apart. She whispered with the sound of her heartbeat quickly fastening its pace, "Please don't tell me you're leaving..."

Elijah didn't blink nor did Elena. They both were caught in a war of burning glances while the world stood still for a moment of cold agony. Elijah couldn't stop hearing her heart. It was fast, jumping every now and then and it didn't make it any easier to respond to the girl. His eyes trailed down to the ground and slowly recovered from the silence, "Please don't give me a reason to be angry with the world, Elena."

Elena sounded exasperated, "You have every right to be angry with the world. You've lived for thousand of years. You've seen things, you've felt things that had scarred you for eternity and to not have the ability to be human again?" Elijah's stare escaped from the ground onto Elena. She stayed true to her opinions and beliefs that it made Elijah want to to listen more and more after each word because she knew everything. She understood everything he was feeling. No matter how long he could spend time around Elena, it only made him feel more dissapointed and ashamed of his future. Because she was human, and she was a miracle that he was lucky to encounter.

"Elena...out of all people, you should be the last to feel sympathetic towards an Original. We've done nothing but cause you great hurt in your life. If we hadn't been turned from the beginning, you would've been able to carry a normal life," Elena's brows relaxed and Elijah continued, "none of this would be happening,"

Elena refused to believe that the Originals were only a great deal of harm. Well at least in the case of Elijah. He wasn't a monster. He's everything that a vampire restricts to flow through their base of emotions and clearly he's shown that throughout their interactions. She's never been so grateful to have had those subtle moments where he would just recount his life like it was a fictional storybook, or allowed him to converse with her in such a profound manner. Elena crept closer to him causing Elijah to become quite nervous.

She made a small shadow over him as she said, "You think that you're just this bad and awful thing but you're not. If that, you wouldn't even have recognised the face of compassion. You wouldn't have found a way to keep me alive and you sure as hell wouldn't have wrote me that letter. Out of all people, I should understand. I've had my share of selfish acts and stupid decisions and that goes for everyone. We just happen to be in the middle of a supernatural-invaded planet and that's not our fault. And it certainly isn't yours. You've done the things you did because you value one of the most important things in the world: family. And I for one should know how hard it is to lose them, one by one," Elena's face was painted with a spread of pain before she murmmered, "Am I supposed to blame you for that?" Elena wandered back to the letter, "What you said, in that letter about feeling a burden of regret? If anyone, it should be me feeling that way. I could've warned you about Esther's plan before it was too late..."

Elijah's face twitched and a the tiniest hint of a smile appeared on the corner of his mouth. He was suprised to how much Elena signified the words he wrote in that letter. It was a long time since he wrote one with the intention of exposing his thoughts to someone else. Elijah thought it would be best not to confront her. The presence of Elena makes him jolt in a way that tempts him to say anything that could lead to personal regret and potential weight on Elena's shoulders. That was the last thing she needed knowing her life story.

Elijah breathed, "Inspite of my moral, I should've known the possibility of gaining peace within my family once again, would never happen." Elena's compassion eventually made it's return as she brought her hand up onto his shoulder and squeezed it gently, allowing herself to surrender her hesitation. Her voice incorporated an angelic tone when she said, "Elijah...you deserve to be happy." His eyes were locked onto her innocent visage, as if they finally reached their rightful position. The light of the moon behind him reflected amongst her chocolate brown orbs as they ignited a comforting feeling in the depths of his vampire heart. Then Elijah felt something strange inside him tweak. As if it was recovering from a deep sleep but somehow Elena noticed the response perfectly.

"Don't turn it off..." Her eyes exposed great desperation as her hands were released from his shoulder until they were eventually by her side but still remained pleading. Elijah felt his humanity slowly breaking out of its invisible handcuffs while Elena continued to assure him to release that complex bundle of emotions. Gradually, both her hands made their way to the surface of Elijah's cold skin. Elena's thumb carressed his cheek while he watched her with great intensity inviting her to continue the gesture. , "You're not a monster Elijah...you should know that," she muttered. His strong gaze fell as it was replaced by a glint of surrender and hope. Elijah begun to relax under the warmth of Elena's soft hands which enabled him to identify the one thing he'd always made himself hold back this whole time.

He cared a great deal for the girl. That was the only reason for why he struggled to leave Mystic Falls. That was the reason why he trusted her with his word. And that was the reason why he wrote her that letter.

Elena dared a lazy smile to appear on her face when she noticed his welcome response. Elijah differed from many of the vampires she had encountered yet. The person in front of her wasn't in fear of his pain and struggle. The Elijah before her wasn't a coward to finally feel vulnerable despite his supernatural strengths and qualities and it caused Elena to genuinely feel proud of him. Proud to witness that a vampire could truly give in to humanity and letting it helplessly wash over them like rain.

Elijah whispered gracefully, "Thank you, Elena."

Elena nodded, widening her smile before she said, "Promise me you won't leave Mystic Falls. You belong here. You belong in your home."

Elijah gently carresed his hands around hers and brought them down from the sides of his face. He laid them still in front of him for a while, tangling his fingers in the bundle of her own and said, "I give you my word." A smile fiddled with his lips as they began to curl in a shy manner which made Elena return a satisfied and relieved grin. Their gazes were worn so comfortably as they marked an 'x' to where they truly felt happy. No hurt or pain to present. Just happiness. The light of the moon was iridescent that night, reminding them how lovely it felt to not be truly overpowered by darkness and how beautiful it seemed to gain such understanding from someone who was meant to be polar opposite from them. But instead, found themselves more similar than anything and that was something worth holding on to.

Always and Forever.