AN: Second an last chapter . I hope you all enjoy it.
Songs that go with this Fic: Adelle "Set fire to the rain", Pink and Nate Ruess " Just give me a reason"
"Dust to dust"
As Elena walked around the house she grew up in, all she could feel was the void inside of her. She was like an outsider and none of this seemed to really matter. The feeling was alien but Elena welcomed it.
Caroline left, she needed time and room to grief the loss of Jeremy, of Tyler and of her childhood friend…
The brothers stood outside and Stefan couldn't help but question his older brother's decision; Elena was all heart… what would be left of her without her emotions? But words didn't really matter at this time… nothing did. Jeremy was dead, a vengeful Klaus and Sillas were on the loose, Bonnie had clearly gone mad and Elena had just lost her humanity with her brother's last breath.
A moment of clarity hit Stefan and he tried to put into words how much his own brother meant to him. Damon didn't need to hear the words to know, so he placed a placating hand on his brother's shoulder because he felt the same. They both loved Elena, they really did, but loosing each other would have had the same debilitating effect they just witnessed Elena go through. It is true that you can only strongly hate someone if you love them with equal devotional measure. The Salvatore brother's may have their good and bad moments, but the absolute truth remains: they are two halves of the same heart and soul, they depend on each other and count on each other's presence and they love each other above all and everyone else even if they can't quite say the words…
After all, words didn't really matter today… words are superfluous and stand prostrate at the doors of real heartache.
The sound of a match being struck inside the house assaulted their ears, making Damon and Stefan rush inside. Their pleading words feel on deaf ears, Elena was determined and unmoving. With a flick of her wrist she allowed her past and her life to catch up in flames.
Elena left her heart behind in the house where she grew up, abandoning it to the last touch of warmth it would know for the longest time. Dark days lay ahead as she embraced the void Damon had created for her. Having been governed by her feelings all her life, having none was liberating if somewhat devoid of flavour and something else she could not quite pin point. Elena knew that at some time in the future Damon would rescue her because he always did... But right now she couldn't care less and she embraced it…
Elena strode out of her home, out of the memories, away from the loss and grief and didn't look back - letting the fire consume it all. She looked at eternity square on and marched into tomorrow. Damon fell in step with her, used as he was to walking away from his own past.
Stefan however cast one last grief stricken look at the house… It had once held such promises for him… The promise of real love and an almost human life… Moments of joy and laughter… It had all been consumed by the darkness and all those promises seemed lost forever to him and to his brother and to the girl they both loved.
It was too much…
Stefan wondered how it came to this… Which parts were of it were fate, which were inevitable and which choices could have been made differently. Stefan also wondered if this was how it was always going to be; himself, his brother and a girl they loved equally, caught into an inescapable triangle of love, hurt and loyalty.
The younger Salvatore braced himself for what was to come. Elena's humanity was who Elena was… Who would she be now that she had lost that? He admired his brother for sacrificing the love he shared with her so that Elena could survive this… But Stefan feared the price they would all pay… Would she be like Katherine? Would they see a side to Elena that they never knew? Ripper? Slut? Insensitive Bitch? Stefan felt weak at the knees just thinking of how bad it could get but hoped against hope that he and his brother could save Elena and fix her.
Elena and Damon got into the Camaro, destination the Boarding House, Stefan in the back seat with his eyes still lost looking as the flames ate up the house behind them.
Damon looked stoically ahead in the same direction that Elena had fixed her uncaring gaze - he would always do what she needed of him – and in that moment Stefan realized the depth of his brother's devotion. Damon always placed Elena's needs first and maybe that is why he would be the one to save her… and the one to keep her... in the end. The knowledge hurt Stefan deep inside, but the love he felt for his brother and Elena was greater and he made a silent pledge to devote his time to helping both of them.
Stefan only hoped that the Elena he had loved, that he loved still, hadn't died in the pyre they just left behind. Maybe she would never be human again now that the cure was forever lost… But Stefan had to hope that she would be Elena again… Losing her forever would be too much…simply too much to bear.
Damon's thoughts echoed his brother's. He had done what he had to in order to save Elena from her own undoing. He had seem vampires succumb like she had, he had seen them reach into their own chest and rip their hearts out in their despair. Damon couldn't let Elena sink that far… even if he had to sacrifice their love for it… And when the time was right he would ask her to turn the switch back on and hopefully…Hopefully, the Elena he loved and that loved him in return would still be there…
Damon held on to that belief and braced himself for what was to come. The girl he loved was a shell of who she was and had lost her moral compass, his baby brother looked just as much on the edge of a break down. Sabrina had lost touch with reality, Caroline was near hysterics, he had no idea what Klaus, Rebecca and Sillas were up to. Come tomorrow everyone would know that Jeremy was dead and he had to erase the phone call from April's memory. For the tenth million time Damon wished Alaric was here to help him stir the Scooby gang into safety… Because truth be told, Damon felt weary and old beyond his years…
Truth be told, it was simply too much even for him…
AN: Please R&R so I know if you liked it or not. xoxo