A/N: sorry for the long wait! but since these ARE the final chapters, i wanted it to be perfect :)
"You—you…what?" Marvin stammered helplessly, shooting a bewildered look in Damon's direction.
"I got Elena killed for you," Katherine repeated, her voice pleasant. "You should be thanking me."
Stefan looked frozen as he stared down at Elena's unmoving body in horror.
Damon knelt down hurriedly. Please be the potion, please be the potion, he begged as he failed to locate a heartbeat.
"Well...uh, I guess you saved us the trouble of having to find her!" Marvin announced belatedly, exchanging a look with the rest of the pack. "Where was she? At home?"
"Nope, she was at that teacher's house…Alaric Saltzman."
"Wow, how did you manage to score an invite into that house?" Marvin asked interestedly.
"Oh please," Katherine dismissed. "Like that was going to stop me. I had Elena's little friend…Matt…lure her outside. Then, it was easy."
"Matt?" Damon interrupted angrily. "You Compelled him? How did you even find him?"
"Haven't you heard?" Katherine looked surprised. "There's a sort of search party going around Mystic Falls for Tyler. He was with them."
"But—but I just killed Tyler!" Damon sputtered. "How are they already looking for him?"
Marvin looked uncomfortable at that. "Er, well…his mother might not exactly know about the, uh, werewolf activities. So, technically, Tyler's been missing for a couple days…"
Damon stopped listening as Marvin rambled on. Still kneeling, he tenderly stroked Elena's cheek. She was so pale…With the rosiness gone from her features, she resembled Katherine now more than ever. "I'm so sorry," Damon whispered, "It's all my fault…"
"That's right," Katherine put in gleefully. "It is all your fault! Want to know why I wanted you to kill Tyler?"
"Not really," Damon snapped, looking up to glare at her.
"Well, I'll tell you anyway," Katherine said, undeterred. "See, I know quite a lot about werewolf laws. And I knew that whoever killed a member of their pack wouldn't face death themselves. Rather, the pack would go after someone that the killer loved deeply…and for you, that would be Elena."
Damon couldn't believe what he was hearing.
Apparently, neither could Stefan.
"Then why didn't you want me to kill Tyler?" Stefan demanded. "The outcome would have been the same…"
Katherine shook her head, "No. I don't think it would have been. Only with Damon could I guarantee Elena's death."
"She just said that it's Damon's fault that Elena is dead," Bonnie informed the others, her eyes closed as she concentrated.
"I still don't get how Bonnie is hearing them," Alaric whispered to Isobel.
"She's not just hearing them," Isobel explained patiently. "She's seeing the scene in her mind. It's like she's there with them. Except she's not."
"But—"
"It's a witch thing," Isobel interrupted, "A powerful witch thing. And quite useful, as you can see. Now we know what's going on without being too close. Katherine has no idea that we're nearby."
"Now Stefan is arguing with Katherine," Bonnie said wearily. "Saying that he doesn't love anyone more than Elena...this argument could take a while..."
"What's Damon doing?" Isobel asked curiously.
Bonnie frowned, squeezing her eyes shut. "He looks pretty broken up...he's just sort of sitting next to Elena's body..."
"She's not really dead, is she?" Alaric demanded, suddenly looking worried. "I mean, this is the potion working, right?"
"There's no way of knowing," Bonnie said miserably. "The best news we have is that the potion should have kicked in by now. But we don't know what time that vampire managed to get ahold of Elena. If he drained her before the potion went into effect..."
"Then she's really dead," Isobel's voice was distant.
"But," Bonnie continued hurriedly, "If the potion went into effect while he was draining her, then she'll still be alive."
"We won't know for about another 30 minutes," Alaric said nervously, glancing at his watch.
"Marvin just said he's leaving," Bonnie said suddenly. She turned to look at them, "Smart move, considering that Tyler should be waking up any minute. He was affected by the potion faster, so it should be leaving his system soon."
Isobel nodded in agreement, "What are the others doing?"
"Stefan is still arguing with Katherine," Bonnie rolled her eyes. She frowned, "Man, I don't think I've ever seen Damon look like that before..."
"Like what?"
"Like someone who's lost everything..."
Elena's body felt weighed down, like she was underwater. She felt like she was walking the thin line between dreams and reality, yet she couldn't seem to force herself to wake up.
Flashes of memories flew past her mind's eye, much too quickly for her to grasp anything concrete.
That girl is gonna thank me for what I did to her...
Did you thank Katherine?
Katherine...she could hear her petulant voice, so much like her own...yet so different at the same time.
I don't wanna talk about my future, Stefan. Because everything you're saying makes it perfectly clear you aren't gonna be in it!
Stefan was there, too. She could hear him...And even through her hazy state, she felt a brief flash of anger. He was too busy arguing with Katherine about some stupid thing—why she hadn't wanted him to kill Tyler—than to pay any attention to Elena's supposedly dead body lying just a few feet away.
Does it get tiring, being so righteous?
It flares up in the presence of psychopaths...
Damon was here. Elena could somehow feel him there, hovering over her.
I didn't Compel you in Atlanta because we were having fun. I wanted it to be real.
In a weird way, Elena almost felt like she was watching the scene happening around her. She could see Damon kneeling over her body, looking completely grief-stricken. Briefly, she felt confused. Why did he think she was really dead? Wasn't this all part of the plan?
What is this, a threesome now? You and the Salvatore brothers?
Elena felt Damon brush a strand of hair out of her face. He murmured something that she couldn't quite hear, but she felt his pain.
As long as you have a Salvatore on each arm, you are doomed...
Isobel was nearby, too. Elena could just feel it...and there was someone else, too...
But you took a risk with Damon...
...because he's in love with you.
'He is, you know...'
'Bonnie?' Elena frowned, confused. 'How are you in my head? Is this real?'
'The potion has almost run its course.'
'Huh?'
'He is," Bonnie's voice began fading away, 'he's in love with you.'
Abruptly, the voices around Elena grew stronger, more clear. But she still couldn't open her eyes. She tried to reach out, and was relieved to find she could move her arm. Slowly, she grasped a cool hand and tightened her grip around it, feeling a sense of relief. "Damon..."
Katherine froze, her eyes widening with shock.
