N: First I would like to thank my beta, Zoraya Windwalker, for all her beta work; she transformed a messy idea in a story, so thank you, thank you, thank you!

N2: This story takes place somewhere after Katherine gets out of the tomb, only Katherine doesn't go to the boarding house to take a shower, but to push Damon over the edge, trying to make him leave town. Let's see if she succeeds!

"Why are you still here Damon? You came here to free me from a tomb I was never in, then you found out I never loved you. You tried to get Elena, but she doesn't love you either, so what are you still doing here?"

"Is there a reason for this, or are you just your usual queen-bitch self? If you want something, then say it – otherwise I's suggest you leave. Damon's voice was every bit more volatile than his words were.

"I want you to go away!"

"Well, that's not going to happen, because thanks to you Elena is in danger, and I have to protect her…"

"She's not yours to protect Damon."

"It doesn't matter…"

"You stubborn pain in the ass; she doesn't want your protection, she doesn't want you around. Your brother doesn't want you around either; actually, I don't think there's a single person in this town that would shed a single tear if you just left."

"You just have to turn the knife inside do you?"

"You know me too well Damon. I was just like you, a long time ago – then I started to shut it all off; all these inconvenient feelings. Life is way better like this, believe me. Just go Damon, it's not your place here, forget about Elena!"

"You would just…" Damon suddenly realized he was talking to himself.

ELENA'S HOUSE

"Hello Elena, long times no see."

"Katherine…what do you want?" Elena asked with a tired voice, keeping her distance from Katherine.

"Why does everybody keep asking me that? Anyway, I want you to do something for me, something you did before."

Katherine didn't wait for her to answer; she got in front of Elena and ripped off her vervain necklace. Elena looked at her necklace in Katherine's hand confused.

"You're going to compel me aren't you?" she asked in a soft voice.

"Well, I told you that I need you to do something for me. I know for fact that you're not going to do it voluntarily, so…yes, I'm going to compel you. I need you to push Damon away! Hurt him, destroy him if you have to – just make him leave this town."

"Now, why would I do that?"

"Because you're the only one that has that kind of power over him."

"And why do you want him gone so badly that you resolve to get me to do your dirty work.

"Because…well…because I want him to be safe…it's going to be a war and I don't want him to get hurt…"

"It's a bit late for that don't you think; since… well, since you broke his heart and crushed his dreams?"

"I had to!" Katherine shouted and took a step closer to Elena.

"I needed him to go away and never look back…" she said, absentmindedly stroking Elenas cheek with her fingers, "…I can't believe he fell for you, you're not even his type! Well, apart from your looks, obviously." she put her hand under Elena's chin, forcing her to look directly into her eyes. "When Damon comes here tonight, you'll tell him that he should leave, that you don't want him around and you don't need his protection. You'll tell him again how much you love Stefan and it's always going to be Stefan. You'll tell him that no one wants him here. You will do everything you can to hurt him and make sure he leaves. You will not remember this conversation or seeing me here!"

HALF AN HOUR LATER

ELENA'S POV

I heard a noise and instinctively turned my head towards the window. I saw Damon standing there, looking like he just had lost something precious. I was doing my math homework; I closed the book and stood up, looking at him, expecting a question.

"Tell me she's lying, tell me you don't really want me gone." he said, coming to a stop in front of me.

"Damon…I don't know to whom you are referring to but she's right, I don't want you around. I don't need your protection, I'm not yours to protect. I love Stefan, it will always be Stefan, don't ever forget that! No one wants you here Damon, I think it would be better for you to leave." The words were leaving my mouth automatically. My heart was braking, but for some reason I just knew I had to push him away. He took a step back, like my words were physically pushing him.

"You…you're just like her!" he yelled, "you pretended to be my friend when you needed me and now that I'm no longer useful to you, you want me gone so you'll have your happy ending with my darling little baby brother…" I bit my lip to stop myself from crying. "You know, actually you're worse than her; at least she had the decency to not pretend that I was more important to her than I actually was…but you…you really fooled me, I bet you're proud of yourself now…" His voice was angry and sad at the same time. He wanted to hurt me, just like I was hurting him and it was working…I was hurting, but I couldn't show it, not in front of him. I was hurting myself, by hurting him…but I needed to. The voice in my head was telling me to keep pushing him away.

"You manipulate people all the time and don't give a damn about it, why should I have a conscience? You're the bad guy, remember… Just go Damon; it will be better for all of us!"

I closed my eyes for just for a second and as I opened them again, he was gone.

I sat down on the edge of the bed and started crying like I just lost the most important person in my life.

FOUR DAYS LATER

DAMON'S POV

I got out of the house and started running with no purpose in mind. I still couldn't believe she did that…she played her role so perfect. She dug her way inside my soul and now she told me to go away…

I heard an unusual sound and I stopped. I looked around, having the impression that someone was watching me…

"You look confused" an amused voice said to me and in a second I saw a girl jumping from a tree right in front of me.

"My name is Isa, but that's not important. Too bad you're cute…" she said coming closer "You need to come with me!" she turned around and I started laughing. She looked over her shoulder and gave me a big smile.

"Is it something I said?" she asked.

"Yeah, it's something you said. Why on earth would I come with you?"

"So I won't kill you. Is this motivating enough for you?"

"I'm not going anywhere and I'm seriously not in a mood for games…" I said and clamped my hand around her throat. She didn't even blink. She just pushed my arm away, broke it and pushed me against a tree.

"This won't be a fair fight, Damon, so I suggest you do as I say!" she said.

"How do you know my name?" I asked trying to push myself her away but it was a fruitless attempt.

"That's so not important right now…" she didn't finish her sentence because someone pushed her away, ramming something into her chest. I closed my eyes and opened them again and saw Katherine standing in front of me.

"Man, you're stubborn. What the hell Damon, I told you to leave town, I compelled her to tell you the same thing and you're still here; what's wrong with you?"

"What's…with me…what are you doing here?" I asked surprised.

"What does it look like I'm doing here genius…saving your ass! She's an original, Damon, I can't kill her but I can hurt her enough for us to get away, for now at least. Look at me Damon!" she order and I did as she told me. "Listen to me, when I tell you to run, you run, you don't look back no matter what happens, get it?"

"Why are you saving me?"

"I don't have time to have a pillow talk with you now, Damon, just please, please do as I say!" I nodded.

The next thing I know, Isa was up again, attacking Katherine – and she paid the favor right back. They were so fast…they were pushing and throwing each other from one side to another.

"Damon, now, go, go!" Katherine yelled.

After a second of hesitating, I decided that it was in my best interest to just follow her orders – at least, for the moment – and ran back to the Boarding House.

Katherine arrived half an hour later, deep, red scratches all over her body. Her left hand was crooked in a weird position; her right hand was covering her mouth. When she removed her hand I saw that her lips were torn up so badly that she couldn't talk. I went to the fridge and got her two blood-bags.

"Here" I said handing them over to her. She drained them in seconds and I saw her wounds starting to heal.

"You know you're going to need to explain this, right?" I asked and she nodded. She took a seat on the couch, begging me with her eyes to do the same. I sat down beside her and waited. When I felt that she was ready to talk, I asked: "What did you compel Elena to do, exactly?"

"I compelled her to tell you that she loves Stefan and it will always be Stefan, to tell you that she doesn't need you and she doesn't want you here, to tell you to leave…"

"Why?"

"Because...she's in love with you, and I needed her not to be…I needed you to go away…"

"Why is it that you want me gone so badly?" I interrupted her.

"So you'll be safe."

"Since when do you care about my safety?"

"A while…" she answered softly. "Damon please, can you just go, please!"

"Ok, that's how it works: I'm going to ask you for the last time, why do you want me gone, why do you want me safe and you're going to give me a straight answer."

"Because I love you…" she whispered, almost undetectably. But I heard her loud and clear. For some reason, I started laughing hysterically.

"You got me there for a second. You don't love Katherine, you use…"

"Usually, yeah, it's still me, Damon…I've been through too much to be someone else. I still don't give a damn about human life, I'll always look after myself first and I will always go after what I want."

"Do you have a point with this?"

"I loved you since the moment I saw you…those silver-blue eyes of yours captured me to the point where there was no turning back. But I had a past, Damon; I had to…get away… Then I found out about how you opened the damn tomb and everyone found out I wasn't in there. I came back and I saw you were falling in love with the human me. I knew she's the doppelganger and I knew the originals will come for her…I also knew you'll try to save her and get yourself killed in the process. As that wasn't enough, she was falling for you too, I knew I had to do something so I hurt you and made her hurt you, I made her turn you down and push you away…"

"You're lying!"

"Really, Damon, do you seriously believe I'm lying? Do you really think that I would risk my life to save yours just to make you suffer more?" she put her hand on mine and came closer. I felt her lips on mine, barely touching…as if she was nervous. I wasn't moving, I was in shock, then I felt something wet on her lips and I pulled back, just in time to witness another tear falling from her eyes.

"I'm sorry I've hurt you, Damon, I'm so sorry…" she whispered, "They know about you, they know you're my weakness, Damon, they'll come after you to get revenge on me, you have to leave; you have to go far away from here. Promise me you'll go, Damon, promise me!"

"I can't…" I said, squeezing her hand.

"It's because you love her, isn't it?" she asked and caught her bottom lip between her teeth, waiting for my answer.

"Yes, I do and I'll do anything in my power to save her, even if that means getting myself killed." I finally said.

"Then I'll stay and protect you, even if that means getting myself killed…" She said after a moment of silence, mimicking my own words.

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