Toy Soldiers

By: esmtz

Damon stood frozen in place as he gazed down at his little brother who was lying on the couch with his eyes closed and his skin completely gray with veins clearly showing on his face. He couldn't believe what he was seeing; didn't want to believe what he was seeing that his little brother Stefan was really dead.

"Oh my god, Stefan!" Elena exclaimed looking at Stefan with wide eyes as she sat down on the closest chair and then turned her attention to Caroline, "What happened, Caroline?"

Caroline was crying her eyes out as tears fell down her face; unable to comprehend what had happened even though she witnessed it herself.

"S-Stefan was just talking to him and I…" Caroline sobbed louder as Elena moved to put her arms around her to comfort her, "It's my fault that Stefan's…if I hadn't of done what I did…"

"I'm sure it wasn't your fault, Caroline." Elena said trying to comfort her as she pulled Caroline closer to her to hug her, "Who did this to him?"

"…It was Tyler." Caroline whispered.

Even with how quietly she had said it Damon still heard it despite the fact that he wasn't really paying attention to them. He clenched his fists tightly at his sides enough to draw blood.

"What?" Damon said his voice dangerously low signifying that he was clearly angry.

Caroline winced as she struggled to continue.

"At first they were just talking but once Stefan mentioned to Tyler or rather Julian that his wife was dead I was afraid that Julian was going to attack Stefan so I…"

Damon turned to face her with his eyes already starting to turn red from how emotional he was starting to get.

"What did you do, Caroline?" Damon asked as he was shaking with anger.

"…I tried to break Tyler's neck but he was fast enough to realize what I was trying to do so before he could even attempt to kill me Stefan…" Caroline sobbed as she turned and threw her arms around Elena as she started crying uncontrollably.

Damon had never before felt as angry as he did just then and if it wasn't for the fact that Elena was there he would have killed Caroline for getting his brother killed. Noticing the look on her boyfriend's face Elena attempted to calm him down.

"Don't, Damon it's not her fault. She was just worried that Julian…"

"What do you want me to say, Elena? That it's ok? That I forgive her? She just got my brother killed!" Damon said angrily on the verge of wanting to break something.

Elena winced. She knew exactly what he was feeling since she too knew what it felt like to lose a brother but thanks to Bonnie she got her brother back. Damon just found out that his brother was killed so in a way she already knew that Damon was more than likely going to be angry. She looked at him sympathetically while Caroline continued to cry louder.

"We'll bring him back, Damon. I think we need to talk to Bonnie and soon because of the fact that she said the other side is falling apart. We need to find a way to bring back Stefan and the rest of our friends that are over there before it actually does fall apart." Elena told him with a very serious look on her face, "So instead of being angry at Caroline we really should be focusing on coming up with a plan to bring them back."

Damon knew that she was right but he was still struggling with his emotions that he turned away from her to look back at Stefan. Elena sighed when he didn't respond as she got up and helped Caroline to her feet who was trying very hard to calm herself down.

"Caroline and I are going to go and call Bonnie so if you need me, Damon just give me a call." Elena said as she went towards him and gave him a hug and a kiss on the cheek, "I promise you that we'll bring Stefan back ok, Damon? I'll call you later once we've talked to Bonnie and decided on what we're going to do. I love you."

Elena looked at him worriedly when Damon didn't say anything before she and Caroline left. For a few minutes he didn't say anything as Damon was struggling to hold himself together as he kept looking down at his now very much dead baby brother. He swallowed trying to calm himself down enough to at least be able to say what he needed to say since he was feeling himself starting to get emotional.

"Of all days for you to die did it really have to be now, Stefan? Right when the other side is collapsing?" Damon suddenly said shaking his head as he brought the chair that Elena was sitting on closer to the couch that Stefan was currently lying on and sat down.

Damon's gaze was practically glued to Stefan's face that it was hard for him to look away. He immediately thought of all the things that they've been through together and all he could feel was guilt and regret.

"I should've known that this was how you were going to die; playing the damn martyr. Seriously, Stefan why do you always have to go and be the one to sacrifice yourself just to make sure that whoever you're protecting is safe?" Damon asked already knowing that he wasn't going to get an answer.

Damon had no idea if Stefan simply had a death wish or if he just cared way too much about everybody else that he didn't really think about the consequences of what would happen if something happened to him. What made things worse for Damon was that he knew that it was his fault that Stefan was killed. He tried so hard to keep the tears from falling but they fell anyway as he quickly brushed them away.

"You know I just assumed that you would always be here, Stefan no matter what stupid situation you ended up getting yourself into. I mean you always ended up ok before but the moment that I make a mistake you die?!" Damon said looking at him with a hurt look on his face, "Yeah that's right. I'm the reason that you got killed, Stefan. I'm the one who let Julian go just because I thought he could help me take down Markos! Not only did it not work but somehow he ends up being the one that kills you!"

Damon flashed over to the lamp that was on the other side of the couch, picked it up, and threw it across the room. He watched as it shattered to pieces before looking back at his brother his eyes completely red from being emotional. He closed his eyes tightly for a few seconds before walking back over to Stefan. He fell to his knees next to him and put a hand on his shoulder.

"Stefan…" Damon choked out as he gently shook him; tears slowly falling down his face.

Damon kept trying to tell himself that Stefan wasn't going to stay dead, that he was coming back, but it didn't really work because Stefan's body was right in front of him and the possibility of not being able to find a way to bring him back at all let alone in time was too real that he felt himself start to give in to his grief. He started thinking about how badly he had screwed up as a brother because he knows for a fact that ever since he and Stefan had turned, ever since Katherine came between them, Damon had let his hatred and jealousy of Stefan drive them apart and now that Stefan was being ripped away from him Damon couldn't imagine himself living in a world without his brother. He slowly rested his head on Stefan's chest and started crying.

"I'm sorry. I'm so, so sorry brother. Not just for getting you killed but for everything else as well. I'm sorry I let Katherine tear us apart, I'm sorry that I stayed away from you for most of the time that we've been vampires, I'm sorry that I've caused you nothing but pain since coming back to Mystic Falls, I'm sorry that I just never seemed to care enough and…I'm sorry for taking Elena away from you." Damon said before lifting his head up to look at him again, "I'm sorry I've been a crappy brother and yet somehow despite that every single time I've gotten myself into trouble it was you who saved me even when I kept telling you that I didn't want to be saved you still saved me anyway. It's clearly obvious to me that you don't hate me but I still have to ask after all this time why? I have done nothing but make your life worse than what it could have and should have been."

Damon knew that it was pointless talking to Stefan like this because it wasn't like he was there listening to him going on and on about how bad of a brother Damon had been and yet a part of him was hoping that Stefan could hear him but the other part of him was also hoping that Stefan wasn't watching Damon break down like this because in all the time that he spent living whether as a human or a vampire Damon had never liked showing his emotions in front of anyone. The very few times that he had to let his emotions out it was always after he made sure that no one else was around. The last time he felt even remotely close to this was when Alaric died. Alaric now there was another friend of Damon's that he just had to bring back from the other side besides Enzo. Damon clung tightly to Stefan as he continued to cry; lowering his head back down to rest once more on his brother's chest. After a few minutes of this and once he was able to calm himself down enough to have complete control over himself Damon slowly stood up and looked down at Stefan; his face still stained with tears.

"I'm bringing you back, Stefan. I don't care what it takes I'm bringing you back because there's no way that I'm going to just sit here and do nothing while you're on the other side getting ready to be pulled into oblivion. Just hang on a little while longer little brother. I'm on my way to go get you." Damon said before walking away from him.

The first thing that he had to do was to go and find Bonnie and hope to god that she already had a plan ready to bring everyone else back from the other side. There was no way that he was going to accept it if she said that she didn't have one because this was Stefan who was on the line here and he needed his brother to be alive so he could apologize to his face and to try and make it up to him because after all Stefan was his brother and deep down inside of him Damon knew that he was always going to need his little brother.

Author's Note: Well I finally saw the season finale for season 5 and I seriously have to say how extremely disappointed I was when I saw it. It was a huge let down for me regarding the fact that I was hoping to see more of Damon's reaction to Stefan's death and to see them running into each other on the other side but no all Damon really worried about was freakin Elena. Don't get me wrong I love Delena and all pairings so far on the show but it just really sucks that there was absolutely no contact between the brothers. I'm sorry that Damon's kind of ooc here but I really wanted to see him have a huge reaction regarding Stefan's death. In a way this could be connected with my other story on the other side but it doesn't have to be. Anyway I hope you guys liked my story and if not I'm sorry this is only my second attempt at making a VD story and I'm always nervous especially when I post a new story to a different show, game, cartoon, etc. Either way thanks for reading it at the very least. I know that this topic has been covered a whole bunch of times already but I just had to post my version of it so yeah until next time I still have at least one more idea that I'm thinking of posting so yeah bye.-esmtz