The Vampire Diaries

Damon let Meredith's words sink in, barely able to take root amid the swirling chaos that had been wrought.

Their significance began to register, their weight press hard. A devastating litany of emotion crashed over him. None stayed long enough to grasp. There would be time later to dissect.

Meredith looked kindly at him; a face full of sympathy, regret and a private pain all her own.

"Come with me," she murmured, taking his hand gently in an effort to calm the torment that raged behind his hooded eyes.

She guided him to the morgue, where Stefan sat, utterly lost, watching Elena. To the untrained eye, Stefan seemed impassive. Cold even. But Damon had shared the earth with his brother for more than 160 years and knew the hopeless devastation and bitter regret that played on the corner of his lips. His grief - raw and untamed - threatened to overwhelm him. Just as it threatened to topple Damon.

The brothers eyes met. Damon, expecting to feel the shared bond of hopeless grief, was shocked by what he saw in Stefan's eyes. Loathing. But not for the brother who had tormented and raged at him for over a century, but loathing for himself.

Loathing, disgust and something Damon couldn't place. Couldn't quite recognise. Fear. Stefan was afraid. Terrified. But Damon couldn't process why. He couldn't hold on to any thought. Any emotion. They swirled and raced about his head, leaving him exhausted. His shoulders ached.

"What happened?" He asked, not recognising his own voice.

Stefan's voice was ragged, the effort to focus on Damon's words too much.

"Matt," Stefan choked, barely a whisper, "Wickery Bridge, um, they crashed. She drowned. Elena drowned." His voice caught and the effort to remain calm became unbearable.

The colour drained from Damon's face. "Drowned?" Pain enveloped him. threatened to consume him. He tried to push away the images of Elena, struggling to breath, lungs burning, but they crushed him. Her fear, in those last moments before her death, became his own, branding him for always.

"Did you…um… find her?" Damon asked, gazing down at Elena's corpse, still and pale. Her beauty remained absolute. Even in death. His sense of loss was all encompassing and unbearable.

Stefan seemed unable to answer. He sat. Lifeless. Unmoving. "She didn't want this. She never wanted this."

Damon sat down next to Stefan, his head bowed. "I know," he said, placing a hand on Stefan's shoulder in an attempt to offer some support.

Stefan recoiled from Damon's touch as if he had been burnt. Damon, looked at his brother, confusion and pain clouding his eyes.

"I couldn't save her…." Stefan began, 'I couldn't…

"I know, I know," Damon whispered. "There was nothing you could have done".

Stefan, his lips poised to confess his terrifying, unforgivable secret, heard the sharp intake of breath and it was his undoing.

Elena, coughing, barely able to breathe, sat bolt upright. Her eyes were frightened and unfocused.

The sheer terror and horror of the moment of her death seemed to have bled into these waking seconds. Her body was wracked with fear, her eyes clawed at the two men standing above her, begging them to help her make sense of what was happening to her.

Damon held her close, raking his fingers through her hair, gently shushing away the sobs that threatening to devour her. "It's okay, shsss, you're fine, you'll be ok". The gentle soothing and whispers for calm were as much for his benefit as for hers. He would have willingly died to prevent this moment.. Elena's pain was his pain. He could feel it. He could feel the agony seep through her as the growing realisation of what had happened slammed into her.

"It's not possible, how can it be?" her eyes were wild and unable to focus, as if the light was much much too bright.

Stefan, seemingly grateful for the chance to relay a simply story, explained what had happened. His voice caught and his breath hitched as he fought to keep his emotions in check.

Elena's gentle brown eyes widened in disbelief and grew hard with anger. Overwhelmed, she rubbed the side of her face distractedly, as if to force the thoughts inside head.

"I can't," she began…" I can't – "

The tears that had been threatening since the moment she woke up, erupted. The violence of her sobs surprised the two men in their intensity.

"We need to take you home. We need to decide what we're going to do…."