Lord knows I've failed you time and again…
It is a horribly cruel twist of fate, Damon thinks as he idly flicks a pebble at the stone wall opposite him. Of all the trouble he'd ever expected to get caught in, being stuck in the very tomb that he'd spent nearly a century and a half trying to get Katherine out of is the very last thing he'd ever have predicted.
Of course, he's stuck in here with the hell-bitch herself, and she's not exactly thrilled either.
"It should be Stefan in here with me," she tells him nearly hourly. "He would be so much more interesting. Always was."
Her words don't bother him. Not since she ripped out what was left of his undead heart and ground it beneath her sharp stiletto heel when she told him that he'd wasted nearly his entire undead life trying to rescue her fickle, manipulative self.
"Yeah, well, I'm sure Stefan is probably out celebrating with Elena—the love of his life. Remember her? Your doppelganger, Kathy?" He sneers at her, attempting to not let his own words sting him. "They are just so in love. He'll forget about you in no time. Oh. Wait." He snaps his fingers. "He already did."
Katherine's eyes harden, just a bit more, Damon thinks, and she rakes a sharpened fingernail over his cheek. "Like Elena will forget about you? I'm sure they're thrilled that the two of us are out of their way. They'll finally be able to live happily ever after, don't you think?"
Damon knocks her hand aside, even as the images of a sickeningly happy Stefan and Elena dance through his head, roiling his insides, making the cold, still space in his chest ache. "I think anyone would be happy to be rid of you," he shoots back at her and rises to disappear deeper into the darkness of the tomb, furious that he'll be stuck for all eternity with the bitch that has Elena's face.
It is torture of the worst kind.
He wishes he could believe Stefan's words, vows to not rest until Damon is out of the tomb, and that determined expression on Elena's face.
But he can't. He knows he is not as important to either of them as they want him to believe.
XXX
This is his punishment, he comes to understand after two miserable weeks in the tomb. This is his penalty for the century and a half of havoc and dead bodies he's piled up. This is Fate's way of telling him that he deserves this for all of the pain he's caused.
Katherine grew tired of exchanging witty one-liners with him and trying to one-up him after a few days. She's taken to skulking around and shoots him ominous looks if they ever bump into each other.
The only thing that cheers him up is that she's looking fairly haggard again as Jeremy's blood disappears from her system.
He can feel the thirst, the need for blood churning within him, but he manages to ignore it. For the most part.
He can't help it if he dreams about sinking his teeth into a good old human. He's a vampire, after all.
When he hears his name being whispered from the entrance of the tomb, he reaches it before Katherine has the chance.
Elena stands there, looking so absolutely beautiful that he practically feels his cold, dead heart turn over in his chest. She's wearing a green dress and smells like the perfume he knows she wears on special occasions. Her hair is piled precariously atop her head, exposing that delicate neck of hers, and he wants to rage at Fate for doing this to him.
"Damon." She manages a small smile for him before her eyes slide past him and harden at the sight of her great-great-great…hell, he has no idea how many greats Katherine has on Elena, but he turns and smirks at Katherine.
"Look at that, Kathy. Your great-times-twenty-granddaughter decided to visit you. Isn't that sweet? It feels like grandparents' day at the nursing home, doesn't it?"
He ignores Elena's whispered warning and stares Katherine down until she slinks away again. Then, he turns back to her, crossing his arms over his chest and leaning casually against the stone walls of the tomb, hoping he looks as careless as he doesn't feel.
"So, Elena. What brings you to my neck of the woods?"
She studies him silently for a moment before tossing him the bag he missed seeing in her hand. His reflexes are still solid, so he catches it before it hits him square in the chest. His nose instantly catches the scent, and he can feel his fangs trying to fight their way through his gums, but he suppresses them ruthlessly.
He doesn't want Elena to remember him as a bloodthirsty vampire, even if she's seen him that way before.
"I thought you'd need it, and I couldn't risk Stefan trying to go to a blood bank," she offers him hesitantly. "It took me a little bit of time to get these out of your secret stash."
Damon arches a brow. "Brother dearest has no idea you're down here?"
She shakes her head, and he can see the guilt of deceiving the love of her life is bothering her. "I gave him some vervain during our date, grabbed the bags, and got here as fast as I could."
"Elena."
He doesn't say more, but, from the look in her eyes, he knows he doesn't have to. She understands everything that one word meant to convey.
"Soon, Damon. We're going to get you out of there. I promise."
He knows better than to believe in promises, but he can't help believing her.
XXX
"Did you convince her to do it?" Stefan demands the next day, and Damon says nothing as he calmly sips from the bag of O negative in his hands. He carries the entire stash with him in the tomb, knowing that, were he to hide it anywhere, Katherine would get her hot little hands on it immediately.
Damon rolls his eyes at Stefan's dramatic antics. "Stefan, Stefan, Stefan. Maybe you don't know your precious girlfriend as well as you think." He cocks his head to the side curiously. "Or, wait. Are you two back together again? I can never tell. You're as bad as those two actors who play the sparkling vampire and his insufferable human and all of their are they, aren't they bullshit. Trust me, brother, you do not want to turn into that."
"You don't have to make this more difficult than it needs to be, you know." Stefan paces back and forth across the entrance of the tomb. "It's not like I want you to be stuck in there. It must be hell with Katherine."
He shrugs idly, draining the last of the bag in his hands and vaguely wishing he could drink down another, knowing that he can't if he wants it to last. "She's not so bad when she goes to her corner and stops complaining about it being me in here and not you." He quirks his brow in a manner designed to irk his younger brother. "We all know how badly Katherine would love to have you in here."
Stefan says nothing for several seconds, and Damon wonders if his brother actually still feels something for Katherine. Had he kept that portrait of her for reasons other than nostalgia?
"Bonnie has an in with the son of the warlock who's been helping out Elijah," Stefan finally says. "Turns out, Elijah actually wants us around to keep Elena safe for some mysterious endgame he has."
Forgetting himself, Damon shoots forward to grab his brother's shoulder before he collides with the invisible barrier. He curses it before remembering Stefan's words. "You're going to want to elaborate on that, brother. You're telling me the vamp that Rose was going to hand Elena over to doesn't actually want to kill her?"
"Pretty much." Stefan meets Damon's sharp gaze, and dozens of unspoken words pass between the two brothers. "I'm going to keep her safe, Damon." He sighs heavily, and Damon nearly rolls his eyes at the melodrama of it all. "Bonnie agrees that Elena would be safer if we had you out of the tomb, so she's working on convincing Elijah's warlock to help."
Damon stares at Stefan for several seconds before turning away. He's truly screwed now, he thinks. He's supposed to depend on the word of the witch who hates him and is supposed to expect the help of a warlock that works for the powerful vampire that he tried to kill?
He keeps walking deeper into the tomb, ignoring Stefan's calls, past Katherine's knowing look, and wonders when he lost sight of his number one rule.
You can't trust anyone, and don't you forget it.
XXX
Don't you forget it.
He wakes from the dreams that have been claiming him increasingly often these days; this latest one is more memory than dream and reminds him of Elena saving his life in Atlanta.
It's been weeks since Stefan assured him that Bonnie would come through for them, weeks since his last bag of blood was drained, weeks since his joints became stiff, his bones aching, his skin leathery and tough. Damon can feel his eyes sinking into his skull, the deep bags under his eyes, and the last of what little hope he had has flickered out.
He can't believe he'd been foolish enough to believe his brother and Elena. They haven't even been by to see him.
He refuses to believe that this is how his undead existence will end. Trapped in a tomb with the object of his obsession for a century and a half.
What he refuses to believe more than anything is that something horrible has happened to Elena, Stefan, and everyone he's begun to care about—yes, even the ever-perky Caroline. There is a part of him, deep down, that knows they wouldn't leave him there if it couldn't be helped, but he doesn't want to imagine a world where Elena...isn't.
Even the very thought has his chest clenching, and his stiffened fingers scrabble for purchase in the unforgiving stone walls of the tomb as he painfully pushes himself to his feet and stumbles to the entrance.
"Elena," he rasps, his voice barely above a hoarse whisper. "Stefan! If you're dead—seriously dead this time—I swear to god-" He breaks off, sinking to the ground as even that tiny bit of energy drains out of him.
He can hear the crickets chirping in the woods, smell the faint hint of snow in the wind that brushes through the grass above his prison. What he wishes to hear are footsteps, his brother's voice, Bonnie's chanting, Jeremy's hesitant questions, and, most of all, the feeling he gets when Elena is nearby.
Damon feels nothing, hears nothing, and, despite his steely will, his deprived body sags against the wall, and the world goes dark and silent.
XXX
It is the scent of Elena's blood that rouses him and makes him believe that what he is waking to must be the vampire version of heaven. He's never heard of a heaven for vamps, but that's the only way he imagines he could ever be remotely close to her again.
"He's waking up." Stefan's low voice penetrates his confused thoughts, and he has to practically pry his eyelids open with sheer will.
Elena gasps, and then he's looking up and into her dark, concerned eyes. If he had the strength to do anything, he's sure the sight of her precious face would make him weep. In gratitude, for joy, he's not sure.
Acknowledging his weakness, he still manages to raise a hand to her smooth cheek. His fingers tremble slightly as they connect with her soft skin, and he realizes that he's not in the tomb, not dead, and they're alive.
He sits up more quickly than Elena had expected, and she nearly falls off the bed he's laying on. Though recovering, Damon still manages to catch her and drag her back against him instantly. Not caring that Stefan's still in the room, he wraps her up in his arms and buries his face in her hair.
He knows he is shaking, knows that he is showing vulnerability that he's never shown before, but he can't seem to care. Not now. Not now that he's alive, and she's alive, and she's in his arms, murmuring to him soothingly, promising him that it's okay, it's going to be fine, everything is fine, Damon.
"I thought you were dead," he whispers fiercely. "I thought you were gone."
Elena hesitates before running her fingers soothingly through his hair. "You're safe now. We all are. It's okay, Damon."
He knows he should let her go, but Damon holds on for a few more seconds before letting go and turning to his brother. He can feel the strength building within him as the blood seeps into his veins through the IV in his arm, and he thinks he can handle Stefan's anger.
What he is surprised to see on his brother's face is relief. "Stefan. Thank you," he manages to say, unsure of his footing with his brother for the first time in…ever.
Stefan just nods. "Welcome back, Damon." His eyes shift to Elena, and he nods nearly imperceptibly before stepping out of the room.
Damon is wholly confused as Elena continues to sit by his side, her fingers nervously playing with the bedspread. His mind is whirling with a thousand thoughts, and he busies himself by ripping out the IV and sucking the blood straight from the bag.
He can practically feel Elena wince slightly, and he turns to smirk at her. "Still squeamish, huh?" He hops out of bed and nearly falls flat on his face. "Huh," he mutters as he holds onto arm she's hooked around his shoulders to keep him from collapsing. "Guess I don't have my sea legs under me quite yet."
"You're still weak, Damon," she chides him gently, their eyes meeting for a second before she looks away. "Give yourself some time."
"Actually, what I want is answers." He sits back on the edge of the bed, uncertain of what has changed and how much time has passed and why on earth didn't Stefan tear his head off for touching her and why is she still sitting with him as though all has been forgiven and she still cares for him.
Elena nods slowly. "Where should I start?"
He shrugs and gestures with the hand holding the bag of blood. "Pick a place."
So she does, and she explains how it was Bonnie's distant cousin, Lucy, that came through in the end. How Klaus had come to town, kidnapped Tyler, Jeremy, and Bonnie, how they'd had to barter Elena for the three of them on the night of Tyler's third full moon, how Tyler's transformation had actually caught Klaus by surprise, and how that was all they'd needed for Lucy, Bonnie, and the other Bennett witches Lucy had gathered to enact a spell that weakened Klaus. She explains how the moonstone had all but exploded in blinding light with Klaus' death, but that its spell hadn't been broken.
"Vampires still walk at night, and werewolves are still chained to the moon," she explains and looks apologetic.
"Hey." Damon doesn't like seeing that sorrowful expression on her face, and he hated hearing that she'd been in danger and had gone head-to-head with the oldest, most powerful vampire in the world, but it's not as though he can change any of that now. "Magic ring, remember? I'm certainly not held back by the sun."
Elena smiles a little and squeezes his hand lightly. "I know."
They are quiet for several long moments as Damon stares at their joined hands, wondering what is going on in that complicated head of hers and wanting nothing more than to hold her forever and never let go.
"Bonnie's the one who convinced Lucy to help lift the spell on the tomb long enough for Stefan to get you out," she continues after a while. Her hand is still caught in his, and he feels her shiver when he brushes his thumb over her knuckles. "Lucy was sure Katherine would find a way out, but it didn't happen. She's pretty far gone," Elena adds and peeks up at him cautiously.
Damon understands her trepidation and shrugs. "I don't know why you didn't just stake the bitch while you were at it, but-" He pauses to brush his lips over the back of her hand. "Thank you for saving me."
She grins, suddenly playful. "That's three times now, you know. You owe me."
"What? All those times I saved you don't balance the scales?" He does that eye thing that he knows she hates but secretly enjoys.
The smile dies on Elena's lips, and Damon realizes that he would do anything to see that glee light up her features again. Her words stop him cold. "Stefan and I moved on," she tells him softly, so softly that, were he not a vampire with super-hearing abilities, he would have missed it. "We realized that we can't quite make it work. Not when we don't have all of each other."
There is something beating its fluttering wings inside him increasingly. He is very afraid that it might just be hope.
"Tell me." His voice is cautious, but he knows she can hear the need in it. The need for her to explain what it all means. Has she forgiven him for killing Jeremy? Does she feel something for him? What does she want?
Instead of words, she tells him with her hands that reach out and grip his tightly, with her eyes that meet his and convey what a thousand words could not, and with her smile that makes his cold, dead heart fill with the heat of a thousand blazing suns.
In an instant, he's tumbled her forward into his arms, their lips meeting for this first, real kiss, and he can feel her heart beating so rapidly, so joyously that he can feel it pounding inside of him.
And it is hope that flutters its wings and takes flight.
But you and me, we're alright…
AN: I've wanted to write a TVD story for quite a while, but grad school keeps getting in the way! Anywho, this is my very first venture into writing Vampire Diaries stories, and I hope you'll let me know how it went. The lyrics were taken from One Republic's song, "All We Are".