"That's because you don't need to because you have that compulsion thing you do." Elena replied, using her hands to try explain how Damon compelled people.

"That's true, too." Damon agreed. He could get away with anything he wanted. There was no one holding him back. Elena could at least understand that.

Oddly enough, the hours slipped away as Damon drove. They made small talk without too much fighting. Elena, bored, eventually fell asleep in the afternoon.

***

Everywhere she looked there was black. It seemed all her senses were cut off because she couldn't hear or smell anything. Her hands blindly reached out to grab air. Then, three candles, just like she had before in a previous, lit up before her eyes. They didn't give off much light so she couldn't pinpoint her location. But the flickering flames did illuminate the ground slightly. Elena could faintly identify the unmowed grass. Some words were being uttered behind her, but she couldn't, for some reason, comprehend them. She couldn't turn around either. She was frozen to the spot not of her accord. Some sort of paralysis out of her control, maybe? Then, Elena could make out something sparkling on the other side of the candles in front of her. She squinted to see, but the sparkling thing had faded. She felt the candles' burn.

FLASH! The sparkling thing was right in front of her. Elena had a bad feeling about it as it whirled near her. She couldn't make out what it was.

FLASH! She was in a green meadow, teeming with life and flowers and trees and water. She, though, was on a patch of somewhat dead grass. There was a "t" shaped tree in front of her, full of knots and little branches that weaved and tangled and lead in endless directions, off into the unknown. It made no sense. Stefan suddenly appeared on the other side of the meadow by some rosemary. His hands were held out for her. He had a look of concern and love on his face. He called out to her and disappeared into the forest. Elena got up and stumbled after him, but when she looked behind her, she was in the same spot. She spotted Damon, too, running through the thistles and out of sight. He looked...fierce, determined. Something down in front of her, startling her. Elena screamed. It was a crow that had fallen from a tree at her feet. It was still bleeding, but it was dead.

***

Elena woke up gasping. Something bad had happened. Her neck hurt for napping at an odd angle.

Damon looked at her, blue eyes smoldering with concern. She had been talking in her sleep and said some rather intriguing names and phrases.

"Are you okay?" Damon asked.

Elena nodded. "Did you..." she said, trailing off. She was about to ask "Did you make me have that dream?" but stopped.

"Did I what?" Damon asked, sounding bored.

When Elena didn't answer--she was still trying to figure out her dream--Damon sighed and said matter-of-factly, "Your dream? No, I didn't do that."

"How do you know about it, then?" Elena asked in a tone that was both demanding and polite.

Damon chuckled. "It's not as if you were silent when you were sleeping. 'Oh, Stefan!' 'Damon, don't leave!'" he recited, making his voice girly for the last part.

Elena's eyes widened in shock. "I don't remember saying anything." she stated quietly. "And I would not say that!"

"You were quite the chatterbox." Damon explained, reminiscing.

Elena groaned and started massaging her temples. "But I never talk in my sleep."

"Care to share your dream? I am curious to know. Though, I got a pretty good idea of what it was about, but nothing specific, you know."

"Not really. It didn't make any sense anyways."

"Oh. Too bad."

AN: Yeah, too bad...