Chapter 1: Overwhelming
It is cold and dark. The place was desolate, and covered in ash. He walks around lost, not knowing where he was, yet it seems so familiar in a way, like he has some sort of tie to this horrible place. He wonders if he's dead and now has to live out his afterlife in some sort of never-ending desolate hell type place, yet somewhere deep inside of him he knows he's not dead. He doesn't know how he knows, but he knows. He wishes that he would finally find whatever it is that he's supposed to be looking for. He knows he's here for some reason, but the reason is unknown to him.
The overwhelming darkness looms over him, and he continues to wander barely able to see an inch in front of his nose. He's scared, and that's saying something because he doesn't get scared that easily or in fact at all. Well, he's been scared before, but never frightened like this that's for sure. He can still remember that horrible day, when he lost his constant, his brother. He remembers how he'd barely enough time to say goodbye, and some small part of him resents Elena for that, for taking his time with his brother away during his final breath. He doesn't think that he can ever forgive her for that, but a larger part of him still loves her, cherishes her. He is overwhelmed with devotion. He just wishes that above all he had his brother back.
"Damon!" He screamed. His entire world seemed to have shattered in that second. He was hoping, beyond belief that the tree had barely missed, but he knew it wasn't true. He watched as his brother coughed up blood and then their eyes met, but only for a second, because immediately afterwards his scared dark eyes rolled back up into his head and his head lolled to the side frighteningly limp. His whole body seemed to have lost its power, its life. He had to choke, scream, cry, all at once, but it only came out as barely a whimper. Some part of him was warning him that if he did, he's accepting that his brother's dead, and he just couldn't do it. He couldn't bring himself to do it, until Elena started ranting.
He wanted to choke her, rip her head off just to make her shut-up. His brother is…oh, gosh, his brother is really dead. The legendary tree that is supposed to kill vampires on its own actually took down his older brother. His brother was frightened in that moment, and he remembers hoping urgently pleading that his brother died instantly, because the legends couldn't be true. His brother could not be going through an immense amount of pain, while dying alone in an unresponsive shell. That thought scared him more than anything.
"Elena, he can't!" He remembers shouting. The tears started to pour down his cheeks as he looked at her confused face. Why couldn't she understand? Then it's as if a miracle happened she did. She finally understood what had happened.
She immediately cut his brother from the tree, but the poison had already done its work. He doesn't remember when he brought an axe, but he was glad that he had it. His brother lay fearfully still, and Stefan immediately bent down, cradled his brother's head, opened the eyes ever so gently, and then after he glanced back up at Elena, who was now screaming, he looked back down at his brother, took a deep breath, and as he closed those cloudy, dead eyes, he laid his brother's head down so he could rest. He could barely stand up and move away before Elena bombarded his brother with numerous shouts and questions. She needed to have the decency to let his brother go. He was gone, and he wasn't coming back. This was the end for him and his brother. He remembers hating his brother for this past trip. They butted heads and didn't get along, but he took it for granted. He knows how his brother is, too prideful and impulsive to admit to mistakes, so he should have done something more.
Then, when it turned out that his brother wasn't dead, yet. He barely got to say goodbye, before he felt like he was being shoved out of the way by Elena. He didn't want to yell at her, because this was a hard time for everyone, but now he wishes that he had. He had so much to tell his brother before he died. That he was sorry, and that it's going to be okay.
Stefan is pulled out of the memory, when he sees a light in the distance, around the bend of the…what was he on? Why did it look so familiar to him? He decided to go to the light; because if anything he would find answers there he was sure of it, and maybe he would find out what this place was and why he was here.
As he treks to the small stump, he notices that now his entire legs are trying to move through the loose ash, which never seems to stop falling. He has to push his way through, but he's almost there he can feel it. Where here is, he doesn't know, but something inside of him is telling him that he'll find his answers soon enough.
He finally stops, where his impulse is telling him to stop and looks around. He's nearly thigh deep in the loose, mystical ash, and he can see nothing. The light is gloomier, since he approached it, and he decides that he's got to keep moving, while he can still see.
As he tries to press on, he finds that there's an obstacle in his way. He swallows hard, wondering what could be hidden in the deep, dark ash. He decides to investigate and he starts to dig, tossing the handfuls of ash to the side.
What he finds makes him want to scream and even faint. It's a hand! It's a freaking hand! Why there's a hand, he doesn't know, but he lifts the hand out of the ash, and it seems to be attached to a full body. Whoever it is, is undoubtedly dead as their hand is cold and looks like it's decaying and the body is completely pliant with his tugging and pulling. Something shiny in the gloomy light however catches his eye. He looks down at the hand and wants to throw up, immediately. On the hand is what looks to be a replica of his brother's lapis lazuli ring. He starts to pull the body up more urgently and he screams when he sees the dirt covered face of his brother. He immediately cradles the body in his arms, as tears noisily run down his cheeks cleaning off the dirt wherever they land on his brother.
His raven black hair is matted and his face even under the dirt looks like it's decaying and pale. The lips are purple, and the body seems to have lost a lot of weight.
"I'm sorry! I'm sorry! I'm so, so, so very sorry!" He shouts as he buries his face in his brother's matted, dirty black hair. He cries as he kisses his brother on the forehead. His brother is forever abandoned to rot on this moon, because Elena had to do a spell with her powers causing an eruption. Sage had barely enough time to get Elena, Bonnie, and him out, and he couldn't bother with grabbing the dead body of Stefan's brother and his closest friend.
"Stefan?" He hears a voice, but when he looks down, his brother isn't talking. He remains limp and dead in his arms.
"Damon?" He asks, still hoping that his brother is able to talk to him.
"Stefan." The voice says more certainly.
"Damon? Is that you?" He barely manages to ask.
"Please, Stefan, wake up!" He hears Elena's voice say urgently.
He opens his eyes to find Elena standing over him, worry and sympathy clouding her bright blue eyes. "We were all going to go out for the day, and I came up here to get you, because you didn't come down."
"Oh," He says calmly, "I'm sorry."
"What were you dreaming about?" Elena asks simply.
"Nothing, just nothing." Stefan replies back curtly.
Elena nods solemnly, and I get out of bed and quickly get dressed. She seems to regard him for a moment before she speaks, "Come on the others are waiting." She walks out the door leaving him to follow behind her. He suppresses his tears and grieving, determined to have a good day even if it kills him. Oh, the irony.
AN: Okay, so this is the first chapter, to I Still Can…let me know if you like it. I can't wait to see your reviews. This idea has been bothering me for so long lately, and when I was writing this, it tried to explode out of my mind…lol. Okay, so let me know if you think I should continue this or leave it as a one-shot, because I have a long story planned out for this. This could very well be spoilers for the Hunters Trilogy, so if you continue to read, be warned. Anyways review please. Oh, and for those of you who are waiting…I'm working on the next chapter to Save Me, but I think I'm going to end that story quickly, because I notice that not a lot of you seem to be reading and reviewing on that, and it's gotten so far away from what I wanted. Just thought I'd let you know that I haven't forgotten about that. Oh, and also, I need imput on whether or not you guys want me to continue on with Trouble, too. Post reviews to the corresponding stories that you'd like to see continue, because otherwise I'm in the dark. Okay, once again review please.