Cade's Deal
By: esmtz
Stefan screwed up. He knew it the moment Cade looked at him and laughed at his attempt to try and kill him. Cade started to easily overpower Stefan as he pushed the dagger away from him before he punched Stefan in the face making him fall to the ground. Cade smirked at him as he now had possession of the very weapon that could have been used to kill him.
"Too bad for you that the bell stopped ringing otherwise you probably would have killed me just now. Looks like luck is smiling down on me today." Cade said as he started kicking Stefan while he was still on the ground.
Stefan tried to get away from him but Cade just kept on kicking him a few more times before he grabbed Stefan and pulled him up.
"You really shouldn't have tried to kill me because now I get to make you suffer." Cade told him.
"…Go to hell." Stefan replied in a pain filled voice as he glared angrily at Cade.
Cade just smiled as he knew exactly what he wanted to do to him.
"I made a deal with your brother to trade the dagger for Elena but since you're the one who brought it and tried to use it to kill me I'm going to make him choose between saving you or her."
"You want to kill me that's fine but leave Elena out of this. Damon wasn't the one who tried to kill you. In fact he was ready to come here and make the trade. I'm the one who decided that you needed to die so don't punish my brother for what I did by threatening to take away the one person he loves." Stefan said.
"You're seriously underestimating how much your brother really loves you. Do you honestly think that Damon would just choose to save Elena right away over you?"
"Yes." Stefan said without hesitation, "He's hated me ever since the day I made him turn into a vampire. He's proven time and time again that whatever we had as brothers was destroyed a long time ago and that he will never care about me like he did before Katherine appeared in our lives. Besides all I've done since the day we died has made his life worse than what it was supposed to be so trust me he's not stupid enough to try and save me let alone choose to save me over Elena." Stefan told him.
"If I recall correctly he's saved you before hasn't he?" Cade asked.
"Not because he wanted to. He only saved me because he either wasn't done trying to make my life worse for me, he did it to make Elena happy or to quiet the guilt that he was feeling when I did something to save him and he didn't help me out." Stefan replied remembering how Damon didn't want to take the mark from him, "I guarantee you that Damon will choose Elena over me so there's no need for you to-"
"Why don't we let your brother decide who he's going to save shall we?" Cade replied as he heard footsteps coming from the direction of the entrance to the cave.
Cade positioned himself to where he was standing behind Stefan, holding him as a shield, as he put the dagger dangerously close to Stefan's neck.
"Well there you are, Damon. I was beginning to wonder if you were even going to show up." Cade said the moment Damon came into view.
"We had a deal, Cade. You have the dagger now give back Elena and let go of my brother." Damon said as he walked towards them looking worried when he saw that Cade had his brother.
"No can do, Damon. See thanks to your so called brother here you're going to have to decide who you're going to save; Stefan or Elena." Cade told him before he set Elena's coffin on fire.
"NO!" Damon yelled out his eyes going wide with fear as he watched Elena's coffin burn.
"Put her out, Cade! This is between you and me." Stefan said not caring about the fact that Cade could easily kill him at any moment.
"Well this is what happens when you try to go against me. If she dies it's your fault, Stefan." Cade told him, "You knew that I had her and yet that didn't stop you from trying to kill me. You're right every single thing that you've done since you became a vampire has made everyone else's lives, especially your brother's, worse than what they could have and should have been. The fact that you're in this position in the first place is punishing you because we all know how much you love Damon and yet you forced him into this position. If he chooses to save you he will lose the love of his life while on the other hand if he chooses to save Elena then you were right. Damon doesn't love you anymore so either way it's a lose-lose situation for you." Cade told him smirking at him.
Stefan closed his eyes for a second feeling extremely guilty that he put Elena in danger. He knew what he had to do as he opened his eyes and looked at Damon.
"Damon, you know what to do." Stefan said.
Damon looked at him confused for a second before he realized what Stefan meant. He looked at Stefan in horror when he saw just how serious his brother looked when he said that.
"…I can't, Stef. I'm not saying the words." Damon told him.
"You have to or Elena is going to die!" Stefan replied, "This should be easy for you, Damon so just go on and save Elena already."
Damon didn't say anything as he looked at Stefan with nothing but fear in his eyes. He honestly didn't know what to do. No matter who he chose to save losing the other would definitely destroy him.
"Damon, she doesn't have a whole lot of time left. We already failed as brothers. Please don't fail as her boyfriend too." Stefan said trying to convince him that it's better if he just saved Elena.
Damon flinched as he started feeling guilty about the fact that ever since they got killed because of Katherine he had never been a good brother to Stefan. To have to hear those words being said from his little brother that they failed as brothers really hurt him.
"Your brother is right, Damon. Time is clicking on Elena. If you don't choose who you want to save within thirty seconds I will simply kill them both." Cade told him.
Cade slightly put pressure on the dagger making it dig a little bit into Stefan's neck which started to bleed making Stefan wince and Damon glare angrily at Cade.
"Stop it, Cade! I made my decision." Damon told him looking at Elena's coffin for a second before turning his attention back to Cade and Stefan.
Stefan looked at his brother already knowing exactly what he was going to say as he held his breath waiting to hear him say he wants to save Elena. Cade smiled as he was curious to hear who Damon was going to save.
"Well, Damon who is it that you're choosing to save?" Cade asked.
Damon just stared at him for a second before answering.
"…Both. I want you to take me instead of killing either one of them." Damon told him.
Stefan looked at his brother in shock and horror. He hadn't expected for him to offer himself to Cade instead of choosing between Elena and him.
"Damon, don't! It's not worth it to save me! Just choose to save Elena and let Cade kill me!" Stefan said as he started to panic.
Cade looked at Damon extremely tempted to accept his offer.
"…You would really give up your chance to have a happy life with Elena in order to save your brother?"
Damon simply looked at Cade with a serious look on his face.
"Do we have a deal or not?" Damon asked.
Cade was just about to answer him but Stefan quickly cut him off.
"Damon, please listen to me. You're making a mistake! You spent more than one hundred and fifty years hating me and do you remember why? It's because I ruined your life!" Stefan said as he felt himself start to panic even more, "I'm the one who exposed Katherine and got us killed! I'm the one who made you turn into a vampire when you didn't want to be one! I'M the one who keeps making everyone else's lives worse especially yours! Please brother just let me die and I promise you that your life will get better. Don't throw your life away for something that isn't important anymore!"
Damon looked at Stefan with pain in his eyes. He had never once wanted his brother to feel like he wasn't important to him anymore. Even when he hated him he always made sure that no real harm came to his brother. Damon already knew that it was his fault that Stefan felt that way so in a way he knew that he owed it to his brother to save his life even if it meant not having the chance to spend a happy human life with Elena. Besides he couldn't stand the thought of having to watch Cade kill his little brother right in front of him.
"Damon, you're the one that's supposed to have a happy ending not me. You're not supposed to die for me." Stefan told him practically begging him to not sacrifice himself for him.
'It's not exactly a happy ending if you're dead, Stefan.' Damon thought to himself.
"…I'm sorry brother." Damon said before looking at Cade directly in his eyes, "Cade, kill me."
Author's Note: Good news and bad news. Good news is that besides this mini story I potentially have 4 more ideas for stories that I can write. The bad news is I got a job and it's taking up most of my time so I'm not sure when I can post another story or another chapter. Like before I still haven't seen season 8 so if I get anything wrong I'm sorry. Anyway I hope you guys like this story so far and hopefully I can get the next chapter up sooner rather than later. I've only seen clips for this episode and even then its been awhile since I've seen them so I'm not surprised if I get something wrong. I guess it doesn't matter since this is supposed to be different from the episode so hopefully you guys will like it by the time I finish it.
