No Heroes Allowed

"He kissed me, y'know?

She wasn't quite sure what compelled her to come to the witches' haunted house, but there she was – hair pulled into a tangled mess, blood from her murdering brother's so-called victim staining her jeans, heart in shambles, lipstick still smeared.

Maybe half an hour ago, she was at her desk, wiping off the remnants of the day. She wanted to rip her clothes off, but her lips were tingling too hard to ignore. She completely destroyed her counter looking for the makeup removal, before wiping her lips forcibly.

But then.

The mirror had shown such sadness that she paused. Cliché as it was, it took her a second to realize those eyes – those dead eyes – were hers and hers alone. The lipstick stained her chin now, making her look like a rather messy vampire.

Then the shakes came. They were harsh and sudden, and they hurt. The flashes that came tonight were worse than ever – Alaric's tattered body, Jeremy's wiped eyes, Stefan's cold glance, Damon's soft lips.

She realized pretty quickly she was having a panic attack, and without even thinking about her injured history teacher or her lobotomized little brother, she ran down the stairs, yanking open the front door – just to get some air. Just to breathe.

The cold air was amazing and she took in gulps. Holding on to the railing, she tried to steady herself so she wouldn't fall. Her long brown hair flew in the wind, whipping her face in stinging blows. Suddenly, her legs had a mind of their own and she heavily went down the stairs, gripping the railing with both hands as she went until –

That last step, and she was gone.

"He kissed me, y'know?"

She said it in an empty room. Or so it appeared, anyways. She knew that there were people inside, locked away in invisible coffins. She also knew he was there.

"And I didn't pull away, either." She whispered this. Tears blurred her vision and she suddenly felt so stupid – so worthless. "Sometimes…" she cleared her throat, trying to get rid of the hoarseness. "Sometimes, he looks at me like you used to. Sometimes, he looks at me like I wish you would now." Her voice was still rough even with the clearing.

"Elena, what are you doing here?" he finally said. She twirled around at the voice, and saw him leaning against the wall. His arms were crossed and his eyes were bored. "You know, I'm not…assigned to protect you anymore. I can kill you. Might even help me with my plan." He added, with a slight smirk.

She pressed her lips together. "Fine, then kill me." She said simply. A second passed; his stance didn't change at all. "But you can't, can you?" Her eyes were bright with tears. "Damon told me you did it to save him. For someone under compulsion, you sure do like saving us." Her voice was bitter, sarcastic.

"I don't have to anymore, love." He finally moved, no longer leaning against the wall, but now directly in front of her, albeit a room-length apart. His arms were still crossed.

"Right." Dry, so, so dry. "You can stop doing us any favors then. Last time you did, you let a crazy lunatic run free. The same one who threatened my brother today. So thanks but no thanks."

Suddenly, he looked amused. "Is that what you came to tell me? That you kicked me off the Christmas shopping list? Good to know."

"He kissed me." She repeated, her voice going high.

"Ah." Stefan said, her voice breathy. He took a step towards her. "My brother finally grew some balls. Who would have known?"

"Don't you care?"

"Nope." He responded to her incredulous voice. "Not at all." He said each word like a sentence – a final sentence. Furthermore, he punctuated each word with a step towards her. "Now, correct me if I'm wrong, but weren't you the one who told me to go to hell earlier? Fickle, aren't you?"

"Leave her alone, Stefan."

Honestly, she wasn't surprised that Damon showed up. It wasn't like she left the house quietly. She knew that as soon as Alaric couldn't find her, he'd call up Damon and he would know exactly where she was.

She could still feel his lips.

"Let's go Elena. Seriously."

"Yeah, Elena. You better go before you get grounded." He spat out. He had gone back to leaning against the wall.

"Shut the hell up, Stefan." Damon snapped at his brother, before turning to her. "Elena, seriously. Let's just go home, you can get into those cute little bunny pj's, and I'll even let you have a shot of whatever you want. But home. Now."

"Condescending. Nice. Glad you're my replacement." He snorted, and Damon froze, shooting a glare at his brother.

"You know what, brother?" Damon started, but she spoke over him. Whispered over him rather, but both brothers heard her. The older one looked downright shocked, but the younger brother – the younger brother looked almost relieved.

She could hardly believe she had said it, but she did.

"I hope I'm the one who gets to kill you."

And she meant it.

Fin

This is my first VD's ff. I've been meaning to, but I've never actually written anything. First, I'm a hardcore E/D shipper, but, I don't know. Something about Stefan and Elena, how they are right now really breaks my heart.

I hope you liked it. Been a while since I wrote something. I was thinking of maybe writing a story, but I'm not sure yet.

Thanks for reading! Review?

Sandy