May 3, 2009

"You shouldn't have gone to that party."

Elena Gilbert crossed her arms over her chest in the backseat of her dad's Volvo. "I'm sorry. I called you guys as soon as I realized it was bad news," she tried to explain.

Her father sighed, shaking his head as he gripped the steering wheel a little tighter. "You should have been at family night."

Frowning, she nodded. "I know. And I'm sorry!"

"Greyson, concentrate on the road. The weather's bad," Elena's mom warned levelly, staring ahead at the road.

He breathed out deeply. "You're grounded, Elena."

"What! But the dance is next week!"

"That's why you shouldn't sneak out. You know I don't like punishing you, but you have to realize that you can't just—"

"Watch out!" Mrs. Gilbert shouted frantically, watching in a panic as a deer swerved into the road. Greyson jumped a bit in his seat, gasping as he desperately turned the wheel to get out of the animal's way.

But the road was slippery, and the car lost control.

Elena blacked out.

The bitter taste of misery was fresh on his lips.

The rain pelted down on Stefan Salvatore's creamy skin, not that it really mattered. Rain didn't bother him too much. It seemed to be the only thing he didn't care about.

He let out a shaky breath, ever so slowly clenching and unclenching his bare hand, admiring the way it felt without the weight of his lapis ring. Vaguely, almost absently, Stefan brought his fist to his chest, allowing his eyes to drift shut.

He counted the steady thrumming of his heart beneath his hand: one… two… three… four…

How many beats did he have before the sun came up?

Stefan sighed heavily. In less than twenty four hours, the world would be rid of him, and every burden he carried. He no longer had to live with the unbearable pain, the unbearable temptation that fought him like a lion every single moment of his life. Sometimes, the good just wasn't worth the bad. The pain. The despair. The agony.

Shutting off his emotions always worked, for a while. It could never fully assuage the guilt though, for eventually he was forced to let everything back in, and everything felt ten times worse.

It was easier this way. The world wouldn't have to worry about him, and he wouldn't have to carry the weight of his guilt on his shoulders.

He'd lived 162 years... 162 years too many, causing nothing but pain and turmoil. He had nothing to live for. No one to live for.

He was snapped out of his thoughts by a loud crash in the distance. Startled, Stefan glanced around, wondering what the source was… it did not sound good.

Letting his curiosity and his instincts kick in, he sped off to the location of the sound: Wickery Bridge.

When Stefan got there, his eyes widened. There was a car –an actual car- submerged completely into the lake. Gasping and not even giving himself a moment to think, Stefan took off his jacket, held his breath and jumped in.

The water was freezing; it sent a chill down his spine as he fought against the current, but he knew, he just knew he had to save these nameless people trapped inside. So, he did.

The very first person Stefan saw was a man, barely conscious and struggling with a seatbelt. His bloodshot eyes were bulging and his face was a ghastly purple. Beside him, a woman sat, though he could not see her face, for the window had caved in and crashed between them. Blood –this woman's blood—merged with the water, making it a haunting translucent red.

Stefan swung the door open using inhuman strength, and rushed to help the struggling man. He worked at the seat belt, but with the little strength he had, the man grasped Stefan's wrist and frantically shook his head, pointing to the girl in the backseat urgently.

The girl in the backseat.

She was unconscious, dead possibly. Her eyes were closed and her body looked so small, so weak, restrained in the seatbelt. He stared at the man for a long moment, as if in a silent promise that he would return for him, before swimming hurriedly to help the girl.

He got her out easily; she was light. His lungs burned for oxygen and he desperately swam to the surface, making sure that her head was the very first thing exposed to the air. With a desperation that he didn't even know he possessed, Stefan pulled her onto the riverbank.

He set the girl on her back, taking a quick glance over her pale body.

His body stiffened in recognition.

Katherine.

She looked like Katherine, his first love, his sinful maker, identically. But she couldn't be Katherine, right? Katherine was a vampire, and this girl, well she was human in every single way.

Stefan shook himself out of his thoughts and forced himself to concentrate on the task at hand. He slowly bent his head down, thankfully hearing a slow heartbeat and shallow breaths. She was alive.

Stefan dove in for the man again. But when he returned to the surface, he was empty-handed.

It was too late. He was dead.

Rushing back to the girl, eyes dulled with defeat, he scooped her up into his arms, pushing against her chest until she started coughing, leaning against him for the support she needed. "That's good, that's good," he whispered encouragingly and softly into her ear as she cleared her lungs. "You're okay. You're gonna be okay."

Whimpering after she finished coughing, she fell back into him. She was alive, barely, but alive nevertheless. Stefan breathed in a sigh of relief and let her fall back into his arms, closing his eyes and listening as people from above –witnesses of the crash—called 911.

He got another good look at her. Dark hair clung to her almost blue face; her thin body shivered, so much that he held her close to him in an attempt to stop it. "You're going to be okay. Everything's going to be okay…," Stefan muttered. He doubted she could even hear him, but he swore that she stopped shivering just a little bit with every word.

And then, her eyes opened, just barely, and she looked at him. Despite the dazed confusion in them, they swam with life, with pain. They were brown, reminding him of molten chocolate, and burned into his green eyes, and Stefan knew, right then, he'd never be able to burn that image from his memory.

Then she spoke. Her voice was below a whisper, shaky, and broken, but he heard her. "My… p-par…ents."

Her eyes drifted closed again.

A shiver went through his spine.

That moment, the ambulance arrived. Taking one last glance at this familiar but nameless girl, Stefan bit his lip and vanished.

That night, he sat at his desk in the Salvatore Boardinghouse, absent tears spilling from his hazel eyes.

He couldn't save them. He couldn't save her parents.

But he saved her.

Her. The girl who looked like Katherine.

Her cocoa eyes were still vivid in his memory… and the way they desperately burned through his before she fell unconscious. He didn't know her, not really, but he wanted to. He wanted to help her… he hated that he couldn't save her parents; they'd clearly meant a lot to her. He wanted to be there for her, get to know her, comfort her, although they'd never met. He saw something in those brown eyes; a flicker of strength, a flicker of something he couldn't describe. But the image was forever implanted into his mind.

And as Stefan sat there, his gaze fell on the lapis ring he'd left on the dresser. He reached for it.

Maybe, just maybe, he'd found a reason to live tonight.

And he didn't even know her name.

AN: Happy Stelena day! :D Wanted to post something today. I know, this fic is pretty dark, but with all of these spoilers out about a flashback to this scene I figured I'd write it out! I kind of wrote it in a rush, so apology for lack of detail :P I hope you enjoyed it!

Please review! Every single comment makes my day! :)

-Sara