Day One

(Morning)

Pain was a tricky emotion for vampires to deal with: the powerful influx of agony and grief was something that vampires felt in differing spurts of severity. On the one hand, the pain could burn at a dull minimum, while at other times, the pain could be so ferocious that it felt as if there would never be a reprieve from its unforgiving clutches.

The handy switch that allowed a vampire to turn off his or her emotions, was the one savings grace that many of them depended on for when the going got tough. Plenty of them over the ensuing centuries had fallen prey to the temptation to turn off the unwanted desire to feel any and all curve balls that destiny threw at them. Sometimes it worked, repressing the urge to feel every single heightened emotion that their supernaturally enhanced forms threw at them, and sometimes all it succeeded in doing was creating more of a problem later for when they finally found it with themselves to turn it back on.

Only once had Elena Gilbert been driven to turn off her humanity switch during her short time as a vampire: when her baby brother had been killed by her sadistic doppelganger, Katherine, the tidal wave of grief that had assaulted her mind, was one that she had simply been too weak to overcome, and so had been instructed to turn the switch off by her mental connection to her boyfriend, Damon Salvatore, using the sire bond that had been created between them once his blood had been proven to have turned her

Now, all those months later, Elena wished that she had that option again; she wished that she could find it within herself to find that part of her brain that connected to her emotions so she could fully turn the switch off like was so tempting to do now.

It had been twelve hours since she had been informed that her boyfriend, Damon, had failed to return from the Other Side, which had been on the brink of destroying itself and had taken him (along with several other important friends and family) with it, and Bonnie, her best friend who had been the doomed anchor, serving as a bridge for the souls that were passing from that side of the earth to the supernatural purgatory that was their new home.

Elena had felt plenty of grief in both her eighteen years as a human and her short year as a vampire, but this was something else entirely. The grief that was assaulting her mind was like a sledgehammer in its brutality as it careened her fragile mind with images of the last time she and Damon had been together, and the horrifying moment when the worst possible thing had happened and he had been killed.

In all her years of losing people that mattered to her and she loved, somehow it never crossed her mind that she should need to worry about losing Damon. After all, he had always managed to escape death before, sometimes within an inch of his life, but had always, always come out on the safe side somehow.

Not this time.

Drawing in a shuddering breath, she wrapped the patchwork quilt tighter around her body, as though preserving as much warmth as possible would keep what was left of her heart from completely shattering like it was sorely tempted to do.

Instead of the warmth that she always felt like she basked in, now she felt nothing but an icy chill tremble its way down her curved spine as she laid in a fetal position on the rickety bed that had been her childhood one at the lake house that she was now residing in with her friends and family.

Leaving the cemetery where he had vanished the night before, had felt like sealing the deal for her, as though she was admitting to herself that he was really gone and there was nothing she could do to bring back either he or Bonnie from the fate they had been handed.

There was always a way; that was the hope that she had relied upon during the sketchy few hours that Damon had been missing and she had worried desperately over him, and that was what she was trying to rely on now as she tried to contemplate an existence, a meaningless eternity without the man she loved by her side.

The subject of a future with anyone, certainly someone she loved, had always been a touchy subject, with her not wanting to commit to anything that did not have the potential of lasting, but for her and her dreams of a future with Damon, there was no inkling of a doubt in her mind that all along he had been the one to share that with her, and now he was gone, the world that loved to torment and punish her for some reason, was rearing its cruel head once again.

She missed him: she missed the rare occasions when it was just the two of them and they would have the entire Salvatore mansion to themselves. She missed the way his voice would lower to an almost imperceptible murmur when speaking to her, how gentle and kind he was on most occasions unless there was something wrong that was bothering him.

She missed a lot about the man she had visions of spending an eternity with, but she also missed her best friend, Bonnie. The two had been friends since the first grade ever since Elena defended her against some bully who had unfairly targeted her. Ever since then, the two had become fast friends, along with Caroline.

Heaving in a deep sigh, she wrapped her arm around the middle of her stomach, as though she was subconsciously trying to keep the pain from coming after her once again. It was not fun to be in the position of having to lose the love of your life, and though she thought she had gone through the worst when her parents died, she knew that pain was only preparing her for one of the worst kinds she would ever be unfortunate enough to experience.

A quiet knock on the door alerted her to fact that she had visitors. Rearranging her position so her face was at least visible to the company, she kept herself wrapped in her cocoon as she raised her head slightly to present a face to the person they would want to see.

"C—come in," she called, coughing a little due to the fact she had not used her voice in the last several hours. Her throat was parched, signaling to her that she needed some blood to satiate the cravings that would soon begin to accompany the more than human sensation, but she ignored it for the time being as the door swung open to admit the people on the other side.

Stefan walked in, his shoulders bowed in complete grief and defeat; following closely behind him, was Caroline as she carefully balanced a tray of food and what looked like the familiar logo of the hospital seal on a blood bag.

Not able to control it when her eyes zeroed in on the much needed sustenance, she swallowed back convulsively as she forced herself to look into the eyes of the people that were doing all of this for her. Even though Caroline had never agreed with, or supported her relationship with Damon, she still could not help but be touched by the show of love and solidarity that her friend was presenting her with.

"What's all this?" Elena asked, as she sat up straighter in bed so she wouldn't spill the food on her mother's sheets.

"This is a little something to lift your spirits and hopefully regain that Elena Gilbert optimism," Caroline announced. "I brought all of your favorites, and some blood from the fridge."

"Thank you," Elena said sincerely. "This means a lot."

"How are you doing?" Stefan asked, laying his hand on top of her covered knee.

"How do you think?" Elena asked simply. "We lost Damon, we lost Bonnie, and it's all because the spell that was supposed to bring them all back, stopped."

That was one reason why all of this was so unbelievable to her. She could not believe that a witch they had relied upon to make sure the spell was a success, failed them, either because of her own choice in the matter, or through the actions of her brother.

"I know," Stefan said, his voice tight. "Caroline and I have been up all night trying to figure out a way to...reverse what happened."

"How?"

It would go a long way in erasing much of the grief she was currently in, but the realistic side of Elena's brain that reminded her that the Other Side had destroyed itself, was trying its hardest to push to the forefront of her brain.

"We don't know yet," Stefan admitted, "but we're trying to contact Liv and Luke and see if they know anything that might be of help to us."

Elena shook her head, pushing the tray of food away as she got up to walk across the dust-soaked hardwood flooring. It would not help to contact them if they were the entire reason Damon had failed to come back to her.

What good would they be to anyone if they were the ones who had given up and stopped the spell from reaching its conclusion.

"What good are they?" she asked, spinning around to face her stunned ex-boyfriend and best friend. "I mean let's face it, we all know they were the ones who stopped the spell in the first place."

"We know," Caroline said quietly, as she bit down on her thumb, her unconscious way of showing she was beginning to grow nervous about something, in this case Elena's unpredictable attitude. "But they are the only witches that we know of right now."

Elena shook her head as she got out some clothes from the meager bag she had been able to pack when they had all been forced to flee from Mystic Falls when the Travelers had enacted their spell to rid the town of spirit magic.

"The Other Side is gone," Elena said, as a few tears managed to slip from beneath the determined facade she had so far managed to put up. "The witches had control over that part of the world, but we don't know anything about any other world they may be in."

"We can try, Elena," Caroline reminded her. "You want that, right?"

"I just can't keep doing this," Elena said, shaking her head in complete shock at the loss of life that had become so prevalent in her life lately. "I can't keep losing people I love. My mom and Dad, Jenna and John, and now D-Damon and Bonnie."

"Elena, I know," Stefan said, as he tried to place a comforting hand on her shoulder, but was almost instantly rebuked by her as she sank down onto the bed in complete devastation. All of the emotions she had bravely repressed the night before, were all coming to her now in spurts she wasn't sure she was ready to face yet.

"I can't believe he's gone," Elena cried. "It hurts, Stefan. I didn't know something could hurt this hard, but it does. It hurts me so much."

"I'm so sorry," Stefan said, turning his head away from her briefly to wipe away some of his own tears that managed to escape. "I'm so sorry if I ever tried to keep him from you or get in the way of what was happening with you two. I didn't...I didn't understand the love you had for each other. I do now."

That was the most Stefan had ever had said in support of her relationship with his brother. Even though Stefan had never become an obstacle in their relationship, she had never known his exact feelings on the matter, and now that she did, she was glad that he was supportive, glad that he recognized the complete love and devotion she and Damon had for each other.

"Th—thank you," Elena choked out.

"Listen," Stefan said. "We are going to find a way to bring them back. I don't care if we have to follow leads to the ends of the earth, if we have to do it, so be it."

"There's always a way," Caroline echoed. "A loophole that no one thought to consider before. That's the beauty of magic, Elena."

"I know."

If there was one thing that remained true to her was that the wonder of magic had endless possibilities to her. It could be something as simple as figuring out how to turn a a blossom into something beautiful, or it could be something like making feathers float, but Elena knew that magic always served an important purpose and that could be the one thing that would wind up being the solution to their grief and mourning now.

The first thing he felt was a headache; the ones that reminded Damon of some of the worst hangovers he had ever been unfortunate enough to experience. Once the pain subsided enough to allow him to open his eyes, he did so slowly. He knew enough to know that wherever he was, it wasn't where he had anticipated going.

At first glance, all he could see was an endless amount of murky, gray sky. It reminded Damon a little of home but without the perks that came with that indescribable word. Sitting up slowly, he groaned as he brought a hand to his face to inspect the large gash that had been left in place from the force of being transported to wherever he was now.

Looking at the bright red blood that splattered on his hand, he was momentarily taken aback by the sight of it, and the fact that he had failed to heal from the cut that had been made in the first place. Squinting his eyes at the unfamiliar sights in front of him, he was struck by how blurry his vision was compared to the vampire caliber he had reveled in thus far, and the fact that his hearing, which had always been sharper than a cat's, was now operating at a boringly human level.

Standing up, he was surprised to feel how sore his joints and muscles were from the journey they had taken as he flexed them uncertainly.

"What the hell is happening?" He wondered, more to himself than to anyone eavesdropping on the private conversation he was having with himself.

"Damon?"

Swiveling around to face Bonnie, he was not sure whether to feel relief that he wasn't alone in this strange world they had been plopped in, or confused that instead of being destroyed like he had braced himself for, they had been thrust into something else entirely.

"Bonnie," he said, panting as he ran over to where she stood. "What the hell is this place?"

"I—I don't know."

"You don't know?" he demanded incredulously. "You're saying that instead of being sucked into oblivion like everyone else, we're taking a detour somewhere?"

"I don't know," she repeated frostily. "I have never heard of something like this happening before. I don't know, I don't control this."

"Well, that's just perfect. Is there a way out of this? A way to get back home?"

Not that he thought he would ever be so lucky as to hitch an express ride back home, but now that the option was clearly there again, he was becoming more and more anxious by the second to figure out that impossible way.

"I don't even know where we are, Damon. How am I supposed to figure out a way to get us home when I don't know what place we're even in!"

"Another thing," Damon said, as he leaned against an unsteady tree that looked like it was a second away from collapsing. "I think whatever brought us here, took something too."

"What are you talking about?"

Wordlessly, Damon gestured to the gash on his forehead that was still dripping blood down his face. It was a strange sensation to experience the sights and smells and feelings of being human when he had not had to experience that in over a century since being turned by Katherine. It was terrifying now, especially when he knew that his defenses were down against whoever wanted to hurt him, and it was scary to imagine something having that kind of power over him.

Bonnie's reaction would have been comical had the situation not been so dire to him. It was confusing to leave the earth one way, and then blip back into existence another way altogether. In his nearly century as a vampire, there had been plenty of times he had fantasized about being human again, but that desire was gone now.

"Is that—is that blood?" Bonnie demanded, stating the obvious as she stepped foreword to inspect the all-too-human appearance on his face.

"Either that or it's ketchup," Damon remarked snidely, not in the mood to debate whether or not what he was feeling was real or not.

"But how?"

"No clue."

"But you died a-"

"Just another way that the universe is laughing their asses off at me."

A/N: Damon being human is just going off on one of the more popular theories that he will indeed come back human. The title is in obvious reference to the premiere episode which will have the same name. I hope you enjoy.

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Thank you!