CHAPTER 23:

Around 1860, while Elijah, Rebekah and Marcel stayed in New Orleans (Celeste was still alive and Elijah didn't want to leave her and miss any moment with her, which was understandable), the rest of the family went back to their home, now newly named Mystic Fall's and learned that their old friend, the first of the Lockwood family, had kept his promise. They indeed found their old land (largely considered) free, placed in their name, and even bigger than the rest of the other founing families's lands.

The Lockwood family welcomed Klaus and Bella's family back with open arms, like old friends who had parted for a short time only and informed them that they were the last one of Nicholas' pack in the area. The others had either died out or left to try their luck on other lands, in other packs. They also informed him that given the evolution of man's way, they had stopped triggering their curse when the boys reached the right age, leaving it to chance instead. It was sad news but it still made Klaus happy to know that his old friend's bloodline had survived this long and that it was on the right track to live out longer (he had 3 sons).

Henry quickly became good friend with the Salvatore's youngest son, Stefan and it was him who introduced him to Bella. It didn't take her long to guide his soul mate to him and to complete this blood pair. It was the fifth pair complete and she could see that it wouldn't be much longer now before she could break the traveler's curse. It made her happy, like completing one's life purpose could only make you happy.

During their time in Mystic Fall's, Bella and her family got to know everyone pretty well and her daughter finally got to find love in the person of Damon Salvatore. After making sure that it would last, that they were serious about their feelings and that he wasn't using her in any way, they introduced him to who they really were and offered him to become one of them. Since he was truly in love with Esther, Bella even offered him the Original potion so that he didn't have to be a second rate vampire. Of course Damon loved the idea of having forever with the woman he loved and since she wouldn't be growing old, ever, he accepted their offer.

He never was concerned with the survival of his family name. His father had never been a big fan of him to begin with and his brother, who was the favorite, was, thanks to Bella, on the way to form a family of his own so without this huge responsibility on his shoulders, Damon became a vampire to be with Esther forever.

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Bella kept on checking the years to make sure that she could be there on time to help the rest of the past Cullen clan. If Carlisle had been changed into a Cold One and was now a doctor, like he had always been destined to become, and would get to be with Esmee when the time came, she didn't want to let him change the others, not when they hadn't wanted this. So in 1863, she left her son Nicholas in Mystic Fall's with Henry while she took Klaus and went to Texas.

Her goal was to prevent Jasper from becoming a member of Maria's Newborn Cold One army but once in place, she realized just how evil Maria and her allies were and she decided to put an end to them, with the help of a few travelers that were around and a few werewolves that her beloved husband called for help. She had been mad to notice that the Volturi hadn't come to do their duty and added it to the list of reasons why she hated them. Another reason to take them out when she got the chance.

In the back of her head, she was forming a plan to get rid of the Volturi and place Carlisle in their place once he had found love and happiness. She still had a few years to work on her plan but she and Klaus were confident that it was agood one.

After killing Maria and her sisters along with their current army, Bella and Klaus went to look for Jasper. It wasn't easy because they had nothing of his to track him down and he was constantly moving around but they eventually found him. Jasper was the youngest Major of the southern army and had seen very little battlefield but seemed happy with the life he led so they decided to let fate dictate his future. Maybe he'd meet another vampire and change one day, maybe he'd die on the battlefield, maybe he'd die as an old man. Whatever happened, Bella felt at peace knowing that she had given him the chance to decide.

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Time flew by, the years quickly turning into decades and Bella's power were growing, along with her and Klaus' influence on the supernatural world. Her family was relatively happy, not always together but constantly in contact, linked, united.

In 1917, bella seeked out Carlisle, which wasn't hard considering he had travelers around him per her request and she asked him not to change Edward Mason, assuring him that he'd meet the one supposed to become his mate soon, that he just needed a bit more patience. Knowing that he could trust her, Carlisle agreed and when Edward Mason got sick of the flue, he let him die the way he was supposed to.

In 1930, Bella opened the letter that she had been given from Rosalie. The blond beauty told her when and where to find her to prevent her from becoming a vampire. She asked to either be killed or saved, but not changed. She also gave lots of information on how to find Emmett and how to save him from the bear.

Not hesitating, Bella and Klaus parted with their families once more and saved Rosalie, making sure that Royce King and his drunken friends died. Now that Rosalie was human and relatively happy, all they had to do was make sure she and Emmett met, which they managed to do quite easily a few months later.

Playing matchmaker was a nice change from solving supernatural quarels and they enjoyed it. It was fun and kind of romantic, reminding them how lucky they were to have each other.

With help from compulsion, they arranged for everyone to be happy about Rosalie and Emmett's wedding, even her parents who would have wanted someone of better standing for their daughter. What was important was that Rosalie got to live, stay human, have children, grow old and die watching her grandchildren play in her backyard, just like she had wanted.

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A few years later, Bella also went to Biloxi in order to save Alice.

Mary-Alice Brendon was just a little girl when her parents placed her in an Asylum and Bella took her out of it almost immediately. She didn't want the little girl to grow in the dark and she didn't want to risk placing her in a family that would grow scared of her powers some day so she placed her under the care of Marcel and Rebekah, who were only too happy to take care of the little girl as if she was their own.

As she grew up, Alice developed her abilities and learned to be proud of them, to use them to her and her family's adventage. When she turned 18, she decided that she wanted to become a vampire like her parents and so she received a portion of the Original Potion from Bella and became an original.

She would never know anything of the life she could have had, Bella had never told her. All she knew was that she grew up in a loving family, as a little princess and that she didn't want to leave them behind.

Eventually, she even found love. Marcel changed a man named Thierry in the 70's and he turned out to be Alice's mate, her true love. They were very happy together and the best part was that it came as a surprise to her because she had never seen it coming.

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A few more years later, Bella received word from the travelers that they were holding a hunter who had completed his mark. Immediately, the entire Original family, including the ones who married into it like Damon or Thierry, joined Bella to seek the travelers and followed the map to find Silas's resting place.

Bella had gotten his headstone from another group of travelers and so she had everything she needed to get the first of the doppelganger line. It took them a few weeks to find the right place and do the appropriate spells at the right times all the while evading the guarding spells placed on the island but they eventually did it and Bella collected the blood she needed from Silas, knowing that she already had gotten Amara's blood earlier from the travelers.

Once the sixth pair was complete, the question of what was fair to do with Silas remained and caused a bit of a debate.

Should they let him live, kill him or let him go through his punishment the way he was already? They knew that if awoken, he'd want Amara back and she was the anchor to the other side for now. The only way for him to get her back would be to cause lots of trouble.

In the end, Bella contacted him through his mind and they eventually reached an agreement.

He would stay in his current state but his body would come with them. Once the time to break the traveler's curse came for Bella, she'd free him and help him free Amara from her own curse all the while preserving the other side. Silas agreed to her proposition and so they took his body with them and found a good temporary resting place for him. Bella even managed to get the travelers who were hiding Amara to agree to guard the two bodies together, so they could be united even in their desiccated state.

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Bella was able to complete the seventh pair of doppelganger blood a few more decades later, in 2014, when Henry and Nicholas went back home to Mystic Fall's and met Elena Gilbert, the latest Doppelganger of Amara's. They looked for her soul mate, a man named Tom Avery who was an EMT in Atlanta and after taking their blood like she needed, they brought them together.

After that, it was quite easy for her to break the spell. She contacted the travelers the right way and all over the world, she could feel them chanting with her, no matter where they were.

In the end, the travelers got free, Silas and Amara got to live out their lives as humans, like the other doppelganger pairs that had donated their blood and the other side remained safe. Bella managed to free Amara from being the Anchor by placing the curse on a vampire who had tried to hurt her family several times over. In a few centuries, maybe she'd free him and find someone else to become the anchor, they'd see.

Mystic Fall's became the Mickealson's permanent home, kind of like a supernatural town with very few humans and Bella and Klaus to rule.

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Bella had kept an eye out for her parent's birth but it never came. She wasn't really surprised, she had changed a lot and the fact that a second version of her wouldn't be born made her feel better. It would be much less complicated. Now she didn't have to be worried about becoming jealous of her past self.

However, her cousin Hayley was born and named once more Andrea. This time around she wasn't abandoned and got to have several brothers and sisters. She didn't get the crescent birthmark on her shoulder and was free to chose who she wanted to love.

Bella smiled when she introduced Elijah and Andrea together. She hoped that this time around, their hearts would find each other once more, that it would finally be Elijah's turn to be happy permanently.

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Kol, Nicholas and Henry hadn't found love yet, not the real, forever kind but they were happy enough the way they were. It was enough for them for now.

Bella and Klaus were happy together, peacefully reigning over the supernatural world. Of course they had enemies, everyone had enemies and it was hard to please everyone, but they also had lots of friends and every time someone tried to take them down, they fought as a family and won.

Bella would never get to regret doing that ritual to go back in time because she knew that her life would have never been that good on her own. Klaus was her soul mate, her happiness. Together, they had their happy ending.

I didn't want to leave you hanging for who knows how long for a good ending that might never come so here it is. I might rewrite those last two chapters eventually, if inspiration for it comes back to me.

I'll keep you informed.

Until then, Thank you for following, favoriting and reviewing this story so far.

Don't forget to leave me one last review, please.

Love,

Lorelei Candice Black