"Why, why did you have to leave us?!" Damon cries looking over his soulmates body.

She was pale, cold. Her skin was shiny due to the sweating she was doing earlier. She had veins up her arms and a big gaping hole in her chest to top it all off. Blood all over her clothes.

"Damon, I-I don't know what to do." Jeremy starts to breath harshly. "S-She's gone a-and she was the only one that was there for me through everything. I-I can't lose my big sister. Not this early. Not—."

Jeremy breaks out into a sob, crying over his dead sisters body. Damon and Jeremy were the only ones in the church. Klaus and Stefan went to go save the babies with Elijah and Hayley who had woken up.

Stefan knew she would have wanted for one of them to go and for some reason he felt like it had to be him. He and Klaus stood looking at Aliza's lifeless body both promising that they would bring the babies back safely no matter the cost.

Damon brings the younger Gilbert into his arms and holds him tightly. So many thoughts going through his head. Why did he not Stefan never have a true happy ending? Why must things never go their way? Why must they go through so much pain? Are their kids alright? Is Stefan alright?

"Come on." Damon whispers to Jeremy letting go of him, letting out a sniffle.

"Why?! Where are we going?" Jeremy snaps.

"Back to the...family." Damon answers slowly getting up only to tumble a bit, his knee going momentarily weak.

"Family?!" Jeremy repeats standing up. "We aren't a family without her!"

"Jeremy, my kids are out there and I know she'd want nothing more than for me to see them right now and that's what I'm going to do! I can't stand here looking at her lifeless body because if I do, I will flip my switch!" Damon shouts out of sadness and anger. "Just p-please Jeremy. Come on."

"Cam we take her?" Jeremy asks his voice low.

"I-I wasn't leaving her here." Damon says back. He picks up Aliza's now very light body and slowly walking towards the exit with her in his arms. His heart breaking more and more with every step he takes not being able to hear the sound of his lovers heartbeat.

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"I-I can't do this." Stefan paces back and forth with his daughter in his arms. He looks to his son who was in Klaus's arms. "I-We can't raise them without her."

"Yes you can, Stefan." Hayley speaks. "You both can, you just have to believe you can. She believed you could, I remember her telling me how much she was excited for you and Damon to become fathers. She knew that you both would be amazing."

Those words brought Stefan some relief, but he hated that it was Hayley saying it. For some reason as of right now he despised Hayley. She was alive while Aliza wasn't. How was that fair? He then hated himself for hating her. He didn't know how to do or feel. All he knows was that he was feeling the worst pain he ever felt.

"You have to do this." Kol sniffles. "You too, for..."

He trails off seeing who was coming in. They all turn and see a red faced Jeremy and a weak Damon carrying a very still Aliza in his arms.

"I-I didn't know what to do with her, and I couldn't just leave her there and I didn't want anyone else touching her and-and I don't know..." Damon says placing her down on the table for all of them to see her.

"It's okay. She—." Elijah goes to touch him, but Damon slaps his hand away.

"No it's not!" Damon cries. "Don't tell me it's okay! I just lost my soulmate, how is that okay?! You have no right to even talk about her! You don't know anything about her, you betrayed her over and over again! It's only okay to you! Don't tell me that please! The love of my life is gone and I can't get her back. There's nothing-." Damon's voice cracks. "There's nothing we-we could do."

"I-I-."

"Don't just don't, please." Stefan passes his daughter to Jeremy who carefully cradles her carefully. "You do not understand the pain we're going through. You got your lover back."

The room goes extremely silent, no one daring to stop the two Salvatore's from ranting. I mean they were right. He didn't know what they were going through, he doesn't understand the soulmate level and bond they had. He just didn't understand...

"I should have done more." Klaus let's out a sob, slowly walking over to his daughters body. His feet dragging on the floor. "I should have saved you."

Klaus blamed himself for everything. He blamed himself for not getting there on time. For not being there in the beginning of her life. For abandoning her and not trying harder to look for her even though in his opinion she was better without him and it seem he was right.

"This shouldn't have happened to you. I should have left you alone. I should've just one way or another make you forget about me, so that way all this wouldn't have happened." Klaus clutches on to her cold hand as he cries, his eyes directly on his daughters face.

"Brother it's not your fault." Kol places a hand on his back wiping away a tear from
his son face. "Not at all. You shouldn't think that or say that."

"I couldn't protect her!" Klaus snaps at his younger brother. The two Salvatore's and Jeremy shush him quickly gesturing to the babies in their arms. "That means I failed her which means that it is my fault!"

"It's nobodies fault." Jeremy cuts in keeping his voice low, glancing down at the baby in his hands that looked so much like his sister. "It's no one's. She wouldn't want us fighting like this. Now stop yelling, please. We have babies in the room."

"What are we gonna name them?" Damon takes his son from Klaus's arms. He looked into his son's forest green eyes, then back to his brothers identical one's who walks toward him and Jeremy tears still slipping down their cheeks.

"The same names she chose." Stefan takes his daughter as Jeremy passes her to him. Her blue-green eyes boring into his own. "Just a little switch on princess's name here."

"Atlas Jeremiah Mikealson-Salvatore." Damon whispers looking down at his son, his eyes fluttering closed. Damon places a gentle kiss on his forehead.

"Liza Grace Mikealson Salvatore." Stefan whispers looking to his brother. The both of them letting tears slide down their face. "How's that sound?"

"Perfect." Damon answers. Jeremy started crying harder, Kol speeding to him and holds him close. "They're both perfect."

"Thank you." Jeremy cries out. "Thank you so much."

"She wanted one of them to be named after the most important person in her life." Stefan speaks. "And that was you."

"I meant thank you for keeping Aliza alive through Liza." Jeremy sobs into Kol's neck.

"E-ven though she's gone." Stefan stutters. "She's still living w-within us..."

"Always and Forever." Klaus whispers thinking back to her last ever words said...to him.

"Papa! Daddy!" A high excited voice calls to them, rapid footsteps running into the compound.

"Rosie." Damon says as they turn around to see their little girl running toward them. Tyler and Hadrian with smiles on their face. Only for them to drop when they catch sight of the body on the table.

"No." Tyler and Hadrian say. They both speed toward the body.

"No, no, no." Hadrian shakes his head rapidly. "Why is she dead?! H-How is she dead?! Who did this?!"

"They're dead." Klaus states looking at his younger brother. "I killed them."

"I wasn't there for her. I left and I wasn't there. I-I-." Hadrian let's out a cry before he speeds out the compound, Tyler right behind him not able to look at the sight of his dead best friend any longer.

"Mommy?" Everyone's head snaps to Rose who was now on the table next to Aliza's body that was losing its color more and more. The two Salvatore's pass the twins to Jeremy and Kol who held them without any hesitation before walking over to the five year old.

"Mommy, wake up." Rosalie shakes her, pulling her hand back at how cold she was. She turns to Stefan and Damon. "Mommy not waking up."

"We know, baby." Damon picks her up. "We know."

"Why don't she wake up? I want a hug." Rose whines trying to get out of his grip and back on the table, but Damon holds on to her tighter. "I miss her."

"Mommy is taking a long nap, my love." Stefan wipes a tear from his eyes, giving her a kiss on the cheek.

"Long nap?" Rose repeats. "Why long? I want her up now and where babies in tummy?"

"Right here." Damon turns with her and points toward Jeremy and Kol who gave her the best smile they could.

"I want to give, Mommy a kiss first." Damon nods and turns her around and allows her to kiss Aliza's forehead.

"Night, night, Mommy." Rose whispers. The two Salvatore's sharing a look of sadness. Their hearts heavy and full of grief. They didn't have it in their hearts to tell her the truth. They just couldn't, it as of right now was only gonna add them more pain and they couldn't handle that as of right now.

"Let's sit down so you can hold them." Jeremy reaches out for her hand. She happily takes it.

Once she's taken away, Stefan and Damon suddenly drop to their knees with a loud scream. The both of them clutching on to their chest.

A white light shines bright in the place their heart is making them only scream louder. Klaus speeds to them trying to figure out what happened, but as fast as it happens, it quickly ends.

Their chest felt empty. Like a piece of them was taken. The two brothers shared a look. They knew what that meant.

"She's gone." They both cry out. "She's really gone."

Everyone knew what that meant...they're bond was now dead...gone, now confirming her death.

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"We can't do this, Stefan." Damon tells him taking a sip of his bourbon as he looked up at the sky. "We don't know what to do."

After dealing with her body and putting the twins and Rose to sleep...they separated from the group. They were on top of the compound looking up at the stars shining in the night sky.

"She was so good at everything she did." Stefan replies in a low tone. "She made it seem so..."

"Easy." Damon finishes for him. "Everything she did, she made it seem easy. Even if she didn't know what she was doing."

"This is going to be hard." Stefan sighs sadly. "But we have to do it. For her."

"For her."

The rest of that night, the two Salvatore's spent reminiscing about their memories with their soulmate, crying and holding each other as they did so.

Klaus couldn't sleep. So many dangerous thoughts in his head. He kept blaming himself over and over again for not trying harder to save her or protect her. A father was suppose to protect their daughter no matter what and he failed...

Jeremy spent that time crying in his lovers arms grieving. He then stood in the twins nursery wanting to stay with them in case of anything. Being with them made him feel like Aliza was still there and that's what he needed right now. He needed that comfort.

Hayley went off after Hope was asleep to go tell Jackson, Emery and the rest of the pack the news. Hayley, Jackson and Emery had ever cried as hard as they did that night.

The heart of the family was gone and they were slowly falling apart. What would they do without her? This was going to be something they can never get over. Something that would hurt them every time they think about it.

Aliza Gilbert-Mikealson was dead. Her story was over, but certainly not her legacy...

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One more chapter which is the epilogue and this book is over. I'm so proud of this book and what it's become, so sad it's coming to an end🥺❤️