Healing

An: I do not own The Vampire Diaries. This story will not have regular updates.

Summary: Damon Salvatore has not set foot in Mystic Falls in three years but a frantic phone call from Stefan and the promise that there was a way to awake Elena brings him, Alaric and Bonnie home. Season 7 rewrite. Bamon, Stefan/Valerie.

Prologue

Damon stood on top the clock tower overlooking the deserted town of Mystic Falls. It had been three years since he had stepped foot in this miserable town. It had changed hands between the heretics and other supernatural foes a few times in his absence. The heretics were currently in charge but from what Stefan was telling him, it might not stay that way for much longer. There was a new force trying to take over the town, one that went by the name The Armory.

The first time that his mother lost control of the town, he ignored her pleas for help. Stefan however couldn't and his brother had been living there with Enzo and Caroline for the last two and a half years. Being the good soul that Stefan usually was, his brother forgave Lily and earned the trust of her heretic family. He imagined they were on big happy family living in his mansion. His brother must be quite pleased with himself.

Damon only planned to return to Mystic Falls when Elena awoke but when Stefan called asking for his help this time, his brother had a very interesting proposition for him. Stefan claimed that the heretics had been conducting some research into the spell that kept Elena asleep and there might be something the heretics could do to wake Elena up if Damon helped them with their Armory problem. The rational part of him told him to ignore his brother. They were using Elena as a way to manipulate him, something much bigger was at play and he should stay out of it but the part of him that loved Elena couldn't ignore the information. If there was a way to bring Elena back without killing Bonnie then Damon had to try.

S-2

If someone asked Bonnie ten years ago where they thought she would be at this moment, the very last answer she would have given was standing on the clock tower in Mystic Falls with a vampire. She probably would have said graduating college with her two best friends but with Elena in a coffin and Caroline trying to make her relationship with Stefan work, the college option appeared rather lonely. Instead, three years ago she left for Europe with Alaric and Damon to keep them out of trouble. It was supposed to be just that summer to help Alaric recover from the heartbreak of Josie's death but a cavalier comment by Damon that she should major in witchcraft changed her life. Bonnie had dismissed it at first but the more she thought about it the more it felt like the most natural thing to do.

When the summer finished, Damon wanted to take her back to college. He didn't want her throwing her life away. Elena would have wanted Bonnie and Caroline to continue on with their lives without her. Bonnie argued with him. She told him she wanted to devote her life to magic. That she wanted to get better at magic so that she could break the spell that kept Elena asleep. At that point Damon sighed reluctantly and he took them to Romania. There she met a coven of Bennett witches that he had hidden away decades before as part of his deal with Emily Bennett.

Bonnie thrived there. She learned about the nature of spells, how herbs interact together, how herbs interacted with spells and boosted their power and how to write her own spells. She created her own grimoire with spells entirely of her own creation. She was sure with enough research she could break the spell Kai cast and return Elena to them. In a strange way, it was probably a good thing that they returned home to Mystic Falls. She needed to study the magic that connected her to Elena and that magic was at its strongest when they were in the same room.

Her watch beeped with the five minute warning that they needed to get to the boarding house to meet with Stefan. Damon's hand easily slipped around her waist and she held on as they jumped down to the ground to meet Alaric.

S-3

Alaric watched Damon and Bonnie land on the ground safely. Every time they did that his heart hammered against his chest with fear for Bonnie. He knew Bonnie was a witch and that she could handle herself, both he and Damon had made sure that she could defend herself, but he didn't like her following after Damon. Damon may be Alaric's best friend but he knew what Damon was. He knew that trouble followed wherever Damon went but Bonnie had become as headstrong as Damon and she would not allow the vampire to leave her behind for her safety.

There had been several instances where trouble had found them. Admittedly, not all of those times were because of Damon but 90% of them were. Alaric had realised that it was Damon's curiosity that often got him into trouble. His best friend liked to poke his head where it didn't belong. The vampire assumed because he was a vampire he had a natural advantage over everyone else but that advantage only existed against untrained humans. The trouble was seldom ever human. As Bonnie grew stronger their plans to get out of trouble became riskier and riskier.

Alaric never wanted to come back to this town. He had been enjoying Europe and Asia with Damon and Bonnie. He knew they weren't supposed to stay away so long but time just flew by and before they realized it, a whopping three years had passed. If it weren't for the fact that Damon and Bonnie very much needed him to watch their backs, he never would have come back with them. They had taken care of him when he was lost in grief. He did several stupid things, some of them he's sure he had Damon compel away.

This town held his best and worst memories. He didn't know the full details of what Stefan wanted but if it lead to Elena waking up it would probably come with something very bad as well. Good things never happened in this town without something equally as bad. He's proud of himself for getting Jeremy out and away from this place. Elena's brother is doing so well on his own. If she were awake she would be very proud of him.

Alaric was broken from his thoughts when Damon placed a hand on his shoulder.

"Let's getting going, we wouldn't want to keep Stefan and his lovey dovey family waiting," Damon said with a tinge of bitterness.

Alaric nodded. He made eye contact with Bonnie. They had both agreed that they would listen to what Stefan had to say. If they didn't like it they were going to use every weapon they had available to them to convince Damon to walk away. They didn't need to get pulled back into the devastating cycle that was life in Mystic Falls.

S-4

The clock struck eight and Stefan was very pleased when there was a knock at the door. At least Damon had thought to knock and not stroll in like he still owned the place. Lily and the others were waiting by the fireplace. If Caroline were there with him she would probably tell him to cross his fingers and pray this works. Damon had always been inherently selfish so he shouldn't have any problems doing what needed to be done once he could get Elena back.

Stefan opened the door wide, "Damon, how good to see you," Stefan said looking him over. Of course in three years he hadn't changed. His two companions however seemed different. They seemed almost wary of him. Alaric had a few more wrinkles around the eyes and a shorter haircut. Bonnie didn't look like she aged but her hair was cut short in a bob.

"Stefan, brother, how art though," Damon said trying to step into the house only for him to be blocked.

"You need to be invited in," Stefan revealed.

"You handed my house over to someone else?" Damon hissed.

"It's technically our mother's house since she is still alive. The deed is in Mave's name. She's supposed to be here at eight," Stefan explained.

"And who is Mave exactly? Another one of your Brady Bunch?" Damon asked sarcastically.

There was a loud snort behind them, "Hardly," a girl of average height with reddish brown hair said. The girl stared at him.

"Are you going to let me in or stare at me all day. I know I'm roguishly handsome," Damon teased.

"Go on in, I don't really care who goes into that house," Mave answered.

Bonnie narrowed her eyes, "Then why is your name on the deed?" she asked.

Mave shrugged, "A left over detail from when my pack tried to take over the town."

"You're a werewolf," Bonnie said alarmed.

"Bingo, so I wouldn't get on my bad side vampire," she said in warning.

Bonnie arched an eyebrow, "I'm not a vampire. If I were you, I would stay out of my way."

"Girls, girls," Stefan said stepping in between them. "No need to get into any fights. We are just here to talk."

Bonnie's gaze snapped to Stefan, "What about Stefan? You've been rather scant on the details. Only using the possibility of awaking Elena to lure us here."

"Like mother, like son," Mave commented moving passed them to go inside.

"I thought you settled things with the werewolves?" Alaric asked his gaze focused on the werewolf.

"It's complicated," Stefan responded.

"It's always complicated," Damon said testing to see if his foot could cross the threshold. When his foot landed on the other side he strode forward looking around. "Love what you did with the place, NOT."

Bonnie looked at Stefan, "Where is Caroline?"

"She went to help Hayley track down a witch that could remove the curse from Rebecca. She has this idea in her head that she owes Klaus for the werewolf anti-venom he gave us," Stefan explained. "She should be back next week."

Bonnie noted that Stefan didn't sound too thrilled that Caroline was involving herself in the drama of the Original family. She stepped into the house and followed after Damon.

"For the record Stefan, I don't like this. If we are going to help you I expect full disclosure about everything, even the tiniest detail that you think we don't need to know," Alaric said looking down at the vampire.

"I promise I'll tell you everything," Stefan said closing the door.

An: Thanks for reading.