A/N: Hello fellow Kennett shippers! Okay, I cannot even put into words how much these two need to bang next season. But of course, this likely won't happen and so here I am writing a story about them. I still need to catch up on most of the fourth season (the cure, Silas) so I don't totally know what I'm talking about but eventually I'll be up to speed! 'Young and Beautiful' takes place on the Other Side. We occasionally will venture back to Mystic Falls in future chapters. Thanks for reading and please review!

Chapter One:

The Other Side

"I'm going to be young and beautiful in my coffin. Don't you think that's romantic?" - Bonnie, Vampire Diaries: The Awakening

Bonnie could feel the pull again.

The sharp tug behind her navel that told her Jeremy was calling for her. He was persistent, she'd give him that. He had been summoning her every day since the veil had went back up. Bonnie was no longer sure how many days had passed since she was living. Time moved differently on the Other Side. There was no day and there was no night where she was; there was only her strange and suspended existence.

Staring off into the distance, Bonnie wondered where her Grams had disappeared to. Her Grams had collected her from Mystic Falls upon her death, the pair of them crossing to the Other Side together, hand in hand. But upon her arrival, Bonnie's Grandmother had vanished without so much as a goodbye. She had spent countless hours searching, wailing for her Grandmother, only to be met with the howling wind and overbearing silence of the wasteland that surrounded her.

Feeling Jeremy pull for her again, Bonne let out a petulant sigh, blowing a stray curl from her eyes and huddling closer to the small fire that she had conjured. She hoped that Jeremy would give up soon and let her live out her existence behind the veil in peace. He needed to move on, just as she had.

"Bonnie, I know you can hear me." Jeremy's desperate voice echoed around her suddenly. "Please don't do this. Don't shut me out." He begged her again.

Bonnie drew her knees into her chest, her face contorting as the final notes of Jeremy's sweet voice dispersed around her. She would do nearly anything for that voice. The voice that at one time would send her heart galloping, the voice that she would die for. The voice that she had died for. An overbearing mixture of sadness and grief washed over Bonnie, but still she knew that she had made the right decision. Jeremy could live now, be a brother to Elena, grow old and maybe find a love that was enough for him this time. One strong enough to go beyond the world of the living and into the next realm. A love that was more like Anna's.

Closing her eyes, Bonnie allowed herself to relive her final moments, her final moments as the living and breathing, effervescent Bonnie Bennett. A moment that she had shared with Jeremy.

Jeremy had rushed towards her, certain that it was him who would be dying. Bonnie had known otherwise, however.

"There were a million things I wanted to say to you," Jeremy choked out, his beautiful face illuminated by the cave's flames. "But nothing seems quite right." He confessed vehemently.

"Then don't say anything!" Bonnie interjected passionately, crushing her lips to Jeremy's so that he could speak no further. As Jeremy's lips moved against hers, Bonnie's blood roared viciously in her ears, her heart thumping wildly against her ribcage. She found it funny that her last kiss with Jeremy had been so much like her first –fiery, consuming. And then without giving herself the chance to hesitate, Bonnie had swiftly raised the veil. As easily as pulling the drapes closed when the sun was too overbearing in the morning, Bonnie had ended her life, Jeremy's kiss still lingering on her lips. Trailing her fingers along her mouth, Bonnie could still feel the pressure of Jeremy's lips against her own.

Opening her eyes, Bonnie observed her bleak surroundings, shivering as a cool gust of wind blew past her, warbling her already dying fire. There were no colours on the Other Side, but shades instead. The cold and hard ground on which she sat was the deepest and most obsidian black she had ever seen. Tilting her head upwards towards the sky, Bonnie observed its ominous grey expanse, jumping when the deep rumble of thunder reached her ears.

A storm was coming, and fast.

Bonnie's mind easily drifted back to Mystic Falls, to its clean Virginian air, its lush green forests, and of course the family and friends that she cherished so. There would be no more father-daughter movie nights on Sunday evenings, nor would there be the second chance with her Mother that Bonnie had longed for her entire life. Bonnie would miss the twinkle that appeared in Caroline's eyes when she was up to something, the way that Matt's entire face would light up when he smiled, Elena's hugs, Jeremy's kisses. Bonnie found herself admitting that she would miss the Salvatore brothers, Stefan's heart of gold and even the makeshift alliance that she had forged with Damon, for Elena's sake of course. Bonnie could feel the panic slowly building inside of her. All of that was gone now, scattered to the winds. Extinguished, Bonnie thought. And with that, she waved her hand over her small fire, watching bitterly as it snuffed out.

Bonnie wondered briefly if perhaps she should have taken his hand when he offered it to her –the murderous and sharp-tongued Kol Mikaelson. Appearing on the day of her graduation, she had led him to the school's dingy boiler-room, a plan to keep him trapped there already formed in her mind. What Bonnie had not anticipated however, was for the expression that would appear on Kol's eternally youthful face –pity.

Interrupting himself, Kol's normally animated gaze flickered to the ground, observing Bonnie's lifeless body, a stunned look on his striking face. His dark eyes returned to hers, and he stared at her for a moment before speaking, the mixture of sorrow, shock, and humanity that flashed across his sharp features nearly knocking Bonnie over altogether. "What's this?" Kol asked softly, in a manner that she never would have deemed him capable of. To Bonnie, Kol Mikaelson had always been a more impulsive, arrogant version of Klaus. Dangerous, unpredictable, unfeeling. Yet there he was, expressing more concern and sympathy for Bonnie with a single look than some of her friends had paid her in a lifetime. Bonnie was taken aback, shaken.

"It's me." She found herself answering him. "I died last night." Then as if they had a life of their own, words began to spill from Bonnie's mouth. She found herself conveying to him her fears, her desires for the life she had been robbed off. He listened to her words, his dark expression unreadable. Was Bonnie so pathetic that she now found herself confiding in the first person to feel sorry for her? She felt ashamed, humiliated.

Kol strode towards her then, his face obscured by the room's shadows. "Then what are we waiting for?" He stretched out his hand to her, offering her his assistance, an alliance. "Let's do it, together." He told her earnestly, his brown eyes drilling into hers.

For a moment, for the smallest flicker of time, the temptation to remain on Earth almost overpowered Bonnie, so much that she considered joining forces with the sadistic Original vampire. She knew however that Kol was lying, manipulating her. He had thousands of years of practice with girls like Bonnie, girls that were neglected, forgotten. Kol did not care more than anyone else did about her; she was simply the means to an end for him, a powerful witch that was his only chance to live again. Bonnie trapped him then, ignoring his screams and departing from the boiler room. It had been days, yet still Bonnie was haunted by the look he had given her.

Wiping her tears away, Bonnie rose to her feet and continued to walk aimlessly, just as she had been doing since she had arrived here. Where she was going, towards what destination, she did not know.

It struck Bonnie then that it had been days since she'd last eaten, days since her last cup of morning coffee. She imagined herself biting into a burger from the Mystic Grill, the chewy texture of beef and crisp lettuce between her teeth, washed down with a sip of icy soda. Bonnie was not hungry however. Her stomach was as silent and muted as her barren surroundings. Walking onwards, she raised her hand to her heart and realized in sorrow that it too had stalled.

"Grams!" Bonnie screamed hysterically, frightened by her new knowledge, frightened by herself. "Grams!" She screamed louder. But no answer came.

A cold sheet of rain descended from the sky and pelted down onto Bonnie's shoulders. At one time in her life, Bonnie had loved the rain, loved the sound of it hitting the rooftop as she read. But since the day of her Grandmother's funeral on which it had down poured unforgivingly, she had grown to hate it. This was something that death would not change about her. Bonnie's entire body convulsed as the cool and heavy droplets soaked through the thin fabric of her graduation dress, yet she defiantly walked on. She found herself wondering how much further she would have to walk to cross over, to find peace just as Anna and her mother Pearl had. It was a thought Bonnie had entertained for the past little while –peace. As opposed to either watching her friends and family living out their lives without her or remaining on the Other Side, finding peace seemed right to Bonnie, natural.

Halting in her steps, Bonnie squinted into the distance, certain that her eyes were deceiving her. Just a few steps towards the horizon stood a majestic tree, sprouting from the coal black Earth. With its strong trunk planted firmly into the ground, the tree was thick with vibrant green leaves, its branches drooping from the weight of red Delicious apples. Bonnie dashed towards the tree, jerking to a stop in front of it. It was decidedly the most beautiful thing she had ever seen –a token from the world of the living. A delicate breeze rustled the tree's leaves, the red apple dangling closest to Bonnie welcomingly swaying from left to right. Standing on the tips of her toes, Bonnie plucked an apple from the tree and slid her thumb over its smooth skin. As if on cue, her mouth began to water.

Raising the crimson coloured apple to her mouth, Bonnie was about to sink her teeth into its flesh when something struck her. This is too easy, Bonnie thought to herself in suspicion. Planting her hands solidly on either side of the apple, she put use to the little trick her Grams had taught her and pried the fruit apart, gasping when she saw that its inside was completely black.

"Eugh!" Bonnie exclaimed in disgust, letting both sides of the apple fall to the ground. Her mind began to race. What would have happened to her if she had eaten it? Bonnie decided that she would rather not know, narrowing her eyes in concentration instead. Moments later, the tree was engulfed with fire, orange and red flames licking at its branches. Continuing on her trek, Bonnie glanced over her shoulder to watch the tree burn, pleased that no other innocent soul would be coming across it while on their journey.

A/N: Not too much occurred here, but I hope this gives you a bit of a feel in terms of the 'Other Side'! Chapter 2 is already written and will include our first glimpse of the strange night club 'Afterlife'. If you all are good to me, I may end up posting it tonight (hehe)! Thanks so much for reading and let me know how you're liking everything so far!