Chapter 1: Arise
Summary: Damon wakes up after dying by the hand of his brother.
I started writing this a few months ago. I decided I wanted to get inside Damon's head and to do that I had to go into his past. This story takes place just after Stefan and Damon kill one another over Katherine and continues throughout his life. I've tried to stop at every time period. Anyway, it's rated R because I personally don't think a Damon story can exist without an R rating. Sex, brutality...it wouldn't be Damon without it. Please read and review.
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Florence, Italy: The Renaissance.
Damon's black eyes flew open.
Darkness, complete and utter darkness.
The smell of grass and soil lingered around him and he attempted to sit up. Almost immediately his head hit something hard.
Wood.
A lid.
Damon tried to scoot over, but his body brushed against something else, blocking his path.
Another body, but whose?
His mind wouldn't show him a clear picture. But somehow he knew something terrible had happened.
Suddenly, his memory returned to him likes waves coming ashore.
Katherine's dead.
I found her ashes.
He thought more.
The images of what had happened after he'd found her was a blur.
A name came to mind. A name he hated more than any other.
Stefan.
Stefan was the memory his mind was trying to conceal from him.
He remembered them arguing over Katherine's ring. He remembered them fighting. Remembered his sword entering Stefan's body. Remembered Stefan raising his sword with the last of his strength. Everything else after that was hazy.
"Damon?" Came a weak voice.
Stefan was awake.
Damon remained silent.
"Damon?" Came the voice again.
Damon pushed up on the lid and it came off without a struggle. Damon sat up and looked into the night. The sun had just set and the stars began to blink their eyes. The wind blew through the tree and rustled leaves. Graves surrounded the coffin he and Stefan had been put inside.
The funeral must not be till tomorrow, Damon thought, otherwise we'd be six feet under.
"Damon." Stefan was pulling himself towards the opening.
Damon wanted to get away from the paragon of virtue. He rose to his feet and bolted into the woods, dodging graves as he went.
Let Stefan deal with things on his own, we'll see how long he survives.
