Beautifully Written Delena post(5x22) on tumblr

Damon: "You are by far the greatest thing to ever happen to me in my 173 years on this earth. The fact that I get to die knowing that I was loved. Not just by anyone, by you. Elena Gilbert. Its the epitome of a fulfilled life." 5x22

If you still doubt the endgame after this masterpiece of a finale I'm afraid there's nothing more I can do for you. You're either willfully ignorant or just f**king stupid.

Taking Stefan and Caroline completely out of the equation, there's no better proof that this whole series is Damon and Elena's love story than this episode.

Because I'm still crying. Its been eight f**king days since I finished watching Home' and there are still tears in my eyes. I've never been more emotionally impacted by anything in my entire life.

It's their love. Not just the story, the road to their well-deserved endgame, their legendary journey from hate to love to lust to truth. Their love in and of itself is by far the greatest thing I have ever witnessed in my twenty years on this earth.

There's nothing like it. There never has been before now. There never will be again.

There's a reason I say that they are one love to rule them all. Because what transpired between them in this episode could never in a million years be replicated or even accomplished by anyone else. They are simply in a league of their own.

The love story to end all love stories.

Beginning with the parallel that made their real first meeting on May 23, 2009 thousands of times more meaningful and relevant than it already was.

"Listen, I wanted to spare you the gory details, but then I figured well I'll be lying, and the whole point of saving the universe will be moot because you'd be pissed. So here it is. Project Kaboom needs someone to trigger the explosion so to speak."

"Okay... Wait you? No Damon no, absolutely not. No."

"Go with your first instinct Damon, lesson learned."

"Look at me. Damon. Do you see a future with me? Because that's all I see."

"Elena, I've seen it since the second I laid eyes on you."

"Then don't go on a suicide mission."

"Technically it's only half a suicide mission because we're gonna be bringing people back from the Other Side, and I am gonna be with them."

"Well then what if something goes wrong?"

"Alright not to relive old fights, but this is my choice, and I need you to respect it."

"That was a low blow."

"Hey. I will make it back to you. I promise. I promise you."

This is when I knew he was going to die. Even though I've known it for months, even though the signs have been littered throughout this entire season, this conversation was confirmation that Damon wasn't going to make it back to her.

Because after five seasons of uncertainties, of miscommunications and near misses and vicious angst, both Damon and Elena have finally reached a place where they recognize that their future lies with each other regardless of the internal and external obstacles they face.

Season five was all about them working through the kinks in their relationship and coming to terms with their own individual struggles and weaknesses that had the potential to ruin them if not dealt with. Now that they've been legitimately broken up for legitimate reasons they realize that all of their problems aren't anything they can't overcome. They are ready to put aside doubts and fears and expectations in the name of their love for each other.

They are ready to walk side by side into hell if they must. Anything, no matter the consequences, so long as they are together.

"Do you see a future with me? Because that's all I see."

Elena Gilbert has never been this certain of anything before. She's never once been able to look into her future and see something concrete, something that she wants that will actually last.

And now she does. Now amidst all of the other difficulty in her life she sees Damon in her future. She has plans and dreams for that future. She will fight for that future.

Damon has always represented Elena's future. From the very beginning he was the most solid potential she had for a life beyond tragedy and supernatural danger.

After everything that has tried to come between them this season Elena now truly understands that Damon is the direction she's been going in from the start.

And apparently Damon has felt the same way for some time.

"Elena, I've seen it since the second I laid eyes on you."

This callback to their first meeting on that abandoned road could not be more important.

We've known for two seasons now that Damon met Elena first, the night her parents died. But there has never been much discussion of it beyond Elena confronting him about it after she completed the transition and the allusion she made to it during her confession of true love to him after graduation.

Despite the unbelievable relevance of their first meeting, it is never spoken of. It's simply accepted as another crucial detail of their love story. Something that brought them together when they least expected it.

But this parallel to that night proves how significant it really is that he met her when and how he did. Because she unknowingly changed the course of his entire life. She gave him a small glimpse into the life and future he could have once he let go of Katherine.

This is how you know it has always been them. That this series is their story above anything else.

The future is only ever mentioned in abstract terms on this show because of the constant threats that hang over everyone's heads. And any time that someone broaches the subject it gets glossed over in favor of the current dilemma.

Both Stefan and Matt tried to bring the concept of the future into their relationships with Elena. Matt actually had a whole plan of where he and Elena would go after high school. Stefan intended to keep Elena human and continue living as human an existence as possible with her.

Elena never reciprocated either of these hopes for the future. She flat out admitted that she wasn't all that interested in what Matt was offering her. And rather than shutting Stefan down, because what he offered her was what she believed she wanted at the time, she merely told him that she couldn't think about the future when everything was so uncertain in her present.

She no longer possesses this reticence towards the future and the potential it could hold for her. Now she can comfortably look ahead and see someone that she wants to be with and build a life with. She feels secure in what she has with Damon and all the fascinating places it could lead.

And that is the first reason this episode is the ultimate evidence for their endgame. Because Elena Gilbert, despite the endless clouds of danger and pain that hang over her head, could give a damn about what might be coming for them as long as she can look forward to that future. To a life with Damon.

Endgames are about the future. They are about being so sure of your love and trust and happiness with someone that not being with them isn't an option. All roads lead to that person no matter how many different ways you look at it.

Damon is the end of every road for Elena. He has been since they crossed paths on a road three years ago. And she sees that more clearly now than ever before.

Which makes the tragic end of this episode infinitely more painful.

Starting with how Damon died.

"What the hell are you doing?"

"You said to respect your choice. And I did. Now you can respect mine."

"Woah, no, no that's not how this works Elena. The second we cross that border you're gonna feel everything, you're gonna drown all over again. It's gonna take you back to the night you died a human."

"I know what I signed up for Damon. And I'm all in. What are you staring at? Drive."

Two things: what the actual f**k.

And WHAT THE ACTUAL f**k.

She got into the car with him voluntarily and drove into a fiery explosion knowing she was going to die.

This girl, who has died twice and almost died twenty times that much, willingly chose to die a third time to be with the man she loves.

She didn't even hesitate. She got into his car and shut the door with absolute purpose. The kind you only have when you're so sure of the decision you're making and why you're making it that no one can dissuade you.

Elena loves Damon so much, wants to be with him so much that she chose to die with him, that way if something went wrong and they got stuck on the Other Side they would still be together.

She didn't want him to die alone. She didn't want him to be stuck in a supernatural purgatory alone.

She didn't want him to find peace or get sucked into oblivion alone.

Damon has spent most of his life alone. Granted much of that was self imposed solitude, but his intention was always to end up with someone he could share himself and his life with completely, without reserve. He assumed that person was Katherine and that's why he waited over a century for her.

It turns out he waited 145 years for a different doppelgnger. One who really would love him and trust him and live with him and die with him without reserve.

Damon loves with no limitations. Every ounce of his being, his heart, mind, body and soul is devoted to the one he loves. To Elena.

And she loves him the same. Otherwise she never would've gotten in that car with him.

"Damon..."

"I know. I know."

The next time someone tries to tell me that Stefan and Elena's romance was epic I'm going to die of laughter.

Because if you want to talk about epic romance you should be talking about Damon and Elena.

Their last moment together on the same side of the veil as they barrel towards a certain death has them silently telling each other I love you.'

They didn't even say the words. Such is the power and promise and passion of their love that they didn't even need to voice it to know it was the undeniable truth.

And then Damon reached for her hand as the car sped directly towards the front windows of the Grille.

They died holding hands.

Do you understand what that means.

THEY DIED HOLDING HANDS.

That is how you do epic romance. This nonsense declaration that Stelena had this epic love is complete bullshit. It fizzles and dies in the shadow of the real epic romance. It could never measure up to the unconquerable majesty that is Delena's true love.

And if it isn't enough that they envision a future together, that Elena refused to let Damon sacrifice himself alone, that they held hands as they died in a fire (seriously the amount of symbolism for their bond as twin flames is practically its own plot line in this episode), then Damon's death soliloquy should seal the deal.

Because if hearing him say goodbye to Elena as she broke down and begged him to stay didn't move you to tears than you are f**king heartless.

"You lied to me."

"Even if I wanted to apologize, you couldn't hear me. So I won't."

"Please don't leave me."

"I don't have a choice baby. You are by far the greatest thing to ever happen to me in my 173 years on this earth. The fact that I get to die knowing that I was loved. Not just by anyone, by you. Elena Gilbert. Its the epitome of a fulfilled life. It's never gonna get any better than this. I peaked. I love you Elena."

"Please. Please come back to me."

"Bye."

"Come back to me."

This is why I'm still crying.

This is why it's been a week and I am still a wreck.

Because what the f**k is this. No one, I repeat NO ONE, could ever achieve what Damon and Elena did here. No one could ever exhibit so much raw affection and devotion.

No one could ever have a love that defies the existence of the veil between life and death.

Elena is alive. Damon is dead.

And this is the most beautiful, intimate, heartbreaking scene they've shared in five seasons. Which, considering the nature of their romance and the moments that have accompanied it, is really saying something.

Just to prove it, let's dissect every second of this agonizing genius.

"You lied to me."

"Even if I wanted to apologize, you couldn't hear me. So I won't."

In just over a hundred episodes Damon has never broken a promise to Elena. Somehow, someway he has always made sure to follow through for her even when the circumstances seemed impossible.

This is the first time that there just wasn't any way around it.

And unfortunately this broken promise, this lie, is taking him away from her. Permanently.

Which merely serves to compound the already mind-numbing tragedy of this.

For gods sake she died with him to avoid this, to ensure that she wouldn't lose him. She crossed over to the Other Side to be with him in life or death. It didn't matter, so long as they were together.

And now that choice has been taken from her. Now he's forever beyond her reach.

"Please don't leave me."

Elena Gilbert has lost an almost incalculable number of people over the years. She's experienced more grief in her life than anyone ever should.

And in all those losses, through all of that grief, she has never once begged for the person who was dead or dying not to leave her. She has never pleaded with them or even the universe itself for the ones she loves to stay with her.

But as Damon is standing right in front of her, invisible to her eye and silent to her ears, gently touching her hair and looking at her like she is the only girl in the whole world to him, she's tearfully beseeching him not to leave her behind like everyone else she's ever loved has.

He was the only one who had never left. The idea of losing him was unfathomable to her. That's why she chose to die with him.

And it blew up in her face. Literally. She's losing him anyway.

This is when the sobs began.

"I don't have a choice baby."

Let's just not even talk about how f**king tragic it is that the first time a pet name is EVER uttered on this show in the context of a romantic relationship that half the ship can't even hear it being said.

Although the fact that he used it so naturally and sweetly proves he's called her that before. In private, in the deep stillness of the night when it was just the two of them and the rest of the world was nowhere to be seen or heard.

Baby.

He f**king called her baby.

Damon Salvatore, king of the legendary love confessions, adores this girl so much that he uses a completely modern term of endearment with her.

Because she's his girl. He can call her that because she's his.

Finally, after over a century of waiting to have a real partner in life, someone who reciprocated his feelings, he found a girl who really is his to love, to cherish and protect and devote himself entirely too.

And now he has to leave her.

"You are by far the greatest thing to ever happen to me in my 173 years on this earth. The fact that I get to die knowing that I was loved. Not just by anyone, by you. Elena Gilbert. Its the epitome of a fulfilled life."

This far and away eclipses every incredible affectionate monologue he has ever given her. This is when I could no longer see through the haze of my tears.

As if we didn't already know, this verifies for all time that she is everything to him. After nearly two centuries on earth he credits her with being the single greatest thing to ever happen to him. Something that made his life worth it.

And to top it all off, as she completely breaks down in front of him, he remains entirely calm and peaceful, content with his predicament because he is dying as a man loved by an angel.

Because that's exactly how he sees her. Thats exactly what he's saying here.

It isn't that he was loved, finally, as he deserved after all these years.

It was that he was loved BY HER.

It was her love, her acceptance and trust and affection for him that made his entire life, and all its persistent darkness, worth it.

He doesn't care that he had to wait over a hundred years, that he had to spend five years held captive in metaphorical hell, that he existed for essentially six decades with no emotions, that the woman he died for deceived and betrayed him.

None of that matters because it brought him to her. And she was worth it all, every second of misery and self loathing and insecurity and torture.

All because she loves him. That's what gave his life meaning. Fulfillment.

Are you crying yet.

"It's never gonna get any better than this. I peaked."

How is it even possible for a man to love a woman this much.

The man is essentially condemned to disappear into some supernatural oblivion, to never see this girl that he loves more than life itself ever again. And rather than choosing to lament his fate, he finds peace from the happiness and love that she brought to his life.

She is the highlight of his existence. Being with her, loving her and being loved by her was the peak of his century and a half as a vampire.

I can barely wrap my mind around it.

Their love is divine. Almost religious in its righteous supremacy.

"I love you Elena."

And this is where my mental faculties shut down.

Not because he told her he loves her.

Because of how he told her.

In the epitome of the Sotto Voce Damon voice.

Soft and serene and so damn sweet I'm crying just thinking about it.

He whispered it like he was saying a prayer, thanking every god in every religion in every universe for this girl's very existence, for bringing her to him and allowing her to love him, and him to love her.

He views her as a gift. A miracle. Everything in the world that he's ever wanted.

And he couldn't be more grateful that after all the horrible decisions he made he was granted the privilege of being with the woman of his dreams. The only girl for him.

His twin flame. The mirror to his soul.

How can anyone actually expect to compete with this.

How can anyone even imagine that they could ever be equal to this love that is so all-consuming, out of this world, beyond the realms of sanity, that brings you the utmost joy and despair all at once, that laughs in the face of classic true loves like Romeo and Juliet.

No one can hold a candle to this. Damon and Elena are their own, a love that can't be totally explained or understood simply by virtue of its utter fire breathing magnificence.

Because at the end of all this, it doesn't matter that Damon is supposed to be gone. That Elena believes he is gone. That even Damon himself believes he will never see her again.

Death cannot defeat them.

No separation, no amount of time or distance can stop them, can keep them from each other, can conquer what they've built together.

Damon Salvatore and Elena Gilbert are a sovereign force of passionate pleasure and intimacy, unbreakable trust and loyalty, raw and brutal love.

Damon may be gone, but that won't stop them. Nothing can.

Because their love is a force that transcends worlds.