As Damon opened his piercing eyes and stared at the scene that unfolded before him, the pain suddenly hit and a sense of realisation and dread came over him; he had been here before. Damon had thought that he had escaped the phoenix stone, he had thought that his acceptance of love and loss for his mother had realised him, but that past few days had been a lie. The past few days had unfolded to teach him that no matter how much he craved it, no matter how many epiphanies he had, he would never escape what he truly was - a monster - not just literally in that he drank the blood of the living to feed his cursed existence, but morally too.

As the latest dawning crossed his mind, the sky flashed above him and the world seemed to spin as he lost consciousness.

Awaking again and opening his eyes, he saw that he was no longer greeted by the war torn forests of the south, but an all too familiar awakening of the senses – the boarding house at Mystic Falls; was he home?

Damon stood and surveyed the room around him. It all seemed familiar, but something was not quite right, something seemed off and Damon was intent to find out what was going on; was he still in the stone? Had he escaped? Where was everyone?

At that moment, the whole world around him seemed to cease and time stood still as a familiar figure descended the stairs of the Salvatore house. Damon couldn't seem to catch his breath and struggled to stay upright

'Elena?' he questioned, his voice filled with joy, grief and disbelief.

Thoughts rushed through Damon's head; why was Elena here? How was she here? Where was Bonnie? Had something happened? How did he get out of the phoenix stone?

Suddenly, Damon's questions were evaded as Stefan strode down the stairs behind Elena and Damon's perception of everything slowed down as Stefan reached for Elena and clung tenderly to her waist as he pulled her towards him and their lips met. As their faces drew apart, their eyes locked and a smile spread across Elena's face.

"We're going to be late" Elena said to Stefan, pulled his hand into hers and leading him towards the front door.

Elena paid no attention to Damon as she strode past him and exited the boarding house.

"I'll be out in a minute" Stefan said, loosening Elena's grip on his hand and watching as she walked out of the front door.

"What the hell do you think you're playing at!" Damon demanded of Stefan.

"Me?" Stefan asked angrily "I was just about to ask you that? What would you have done if Jeremy wasn't wearing that ring? Huh?"

"Ring?..." Damon's remark trailed off as he realised, this wasn't a new occurrence to him, he had been here before. He didn't know if he was still in the phoenix stone or had had a severe out of body experience for the past 6 years, but he was in 2010. Elena was still human and Elena was in love with Stefan. Fear, dread and undeniable pain filled Damon as he stormed up the stairs and left Stefan standing unbelieving and disappointed at the front door.