The Mulligan

Description: post-series finale Bonnie can't wake up Elena. Damon and Elena are sent back in time to replace their past selves prior to Stefan's death and Elena's magic coma, hoping to prevent all the tragedies that happened after Kai crashed Ric's wedding. Everything changes when they go back way further than planned.

Author's warning: This is a Delena story for those of us who don't hate him. If you really hate Damon so much that you like to leave rants about how much he sucks on any story that isn't anti-Damon, then this story isn't for you.

1. Bonnie pushed the reset button

Bonnie's voice faded further and further until all they could hear was a loud ringing in their ears, and all they could see was an explosion of light bursting around them.

The light was so bright at first as Damon squeezed Elena's hand, afraid he'd lose her in the journey through time. Suddenly his own hand was empty, and the brightness dimmed.

He stood in the forest alone. Elena was gone.

"What? No!" Damon yelled, spinning around, looking for her in a panic. Instead, he heard men's shouts and saw torchlights through the trees.

At the same time, a body collided directly with his, and both of them fell to the ground. Staring at him in confusion was Stefan, and he was wearing the old outfit with suspenders from 1864; the last day he was alive as a human. Damon froze, a lump forming in his throat as he looked at the young man, barely yet a man, who was scrambling back to his feet.

Nearby in the woods while loading up a prisoner, a man gave orders to others, "We have to get to the church. They're waiting!"

"Damon, get up." Stefan held out his hand, pulling his big brother up from the ground, and pointing towards a route to flank the men with the carriage full of vampire captives. "Circle around that way. I'll distract them. Go."

Damon stared at his young brother in the flesh, not releasing his hand, wanting to pull him into a big hug. Instead, he pulled the 17 year old human into a chokehold from behind before Stefan could announce their presence and knocked him out cold.

"Sorry, little brother. I'm pretty sure Bonnie made a huge mistake sending me back this far, but this time around you're not gonna die trying to save that bitch for me." He hefted Stefan onto his shoulders, immediately realizing that he also was most certainly a human. Stefan was quite heavy.

Sure enough, only moments later, he came face to face with the man he never expected nor wanted to see again.

"Damon! What has happened?" Giuseppe Salvatore blocked his path, narrowing his eyes when he saw Damon carrying his unconscious brother. For a moment Damon couldn't speak, only able to focus his eyes on the weapon his father carried; the weapon that had been meant to kill both sons. The weapon that the old man now raised and pointed at him before speaking again, "Put Stefan down, now! What sort of demon would make you attack your own brother?"

Slowly, Damon lowered Stefan to the ground before raising his hands.

"Careful Father, I was only stopping him from making a terrible mistake. Katherine had him compelled to rescue her, and I had to knock him out to keep him from getting killed. You were right, she truly is a demon, but soon she will burn with the rest of them in the church. We must take him home until she is dead and the compulsion is lifted, or he will keep trying to get to her!" Damon was surprised when Giuseppe lowered the rifle, nodding at Damon.

"I thought I was going to lose both my sons this night," he said, seemingly relieved as he took Stefan from Damon, and the two of them began carrying him back to the estate.

The shock of ending up in 1864 turned to anger as he listened to Giuseppe spout out all his contempt towards the vampires and how embarassed he was that his own son's had been so closely associated with one. The whole way, Damon seethed as he bitterly remembered how his father would have shot them in cold blood only moments ago. Meanwhile, Katherine would be escaping soon with the help of George Lockwood, and the rest of the vampires would be trapped in the tomb.

So where in the world was Elena? She was supposed to have been transported back in time to her existing body prior to the coma, but this was 1864. That was when a terrible thought crossed his mind. What if Elena had somehow ended up trapped in her doppelganger's body instead, since she hadn't been born yet in this time? Clearly, magic was fickle since it sent them back to before Stefan died, ever.

What if Elena was now trapped in the church instead of Katherine, and didn't know how to get out? She could die for real in this world, and he'd be stuck here as a human with nothing to live for.

Instantly, he released his hold on Stefan, causing Giuseppe to stumble with the extra weight. Before Giuseppe could recover, Damon grabbed for the rifle and smashed it across his father's skull. The older man's eye's rolled back as he fell to the ground. Blood trickled from the gash in his scalp but his chest still moved up and down; he'd be out for a long time but he'd live.

"Sorry, Dad. Well, you know what? Actually, I'm not sorry. You're a dick." Damon left Giuseppe and Stefan laying safely on the ground, taking the rifle with him as he went for the church. Either he was going to surprise Katherine, or he was going to rescue Elena in Katherine's body.

Looking back at Stefan who was starting to stir and would likely take his father home, Damon made a promise, "I'll return for you, little brother. This time things will be different."

Elena crawled through the burning church, trying to find the exit that Katherine had escaped from. She knew that this was real because the few times she got too close to the flames was extremely painful, especially since the vervain in her system slowed the healing.

Waking up from her long dream state as she traveled back in time right into Katherine's muzzled and vervained body had been horrifying. The realization that she was reliving the nightmare from 1864 was the most terrifying thing she'd ever imagined, especially when she was dragged into the church which was now on fire, and knew that she had to get out before she got sealed in the tomb with the others.

She tried remembering what she knew about Katherine's escape, but she wasn't sure where George Lockwood was planning to let her out. The one thing she did know was that she could not take refuge in the tomb with the others, or she'd probably be stuck there until 2009.

Then she heard a struggle and a loud cracking thump outside, thanks to her newly reacquired supernatural hearing, before a whispered voice from under the quire loft called out, "Pssst! Katherine! This way, hurry up!"

She quickly crawled towards the unfamiliar voice until she reached freedom in the form of fresh air and the very strong arms of a strange man. On the ground behind him lay a young man with dark curls, his neck twisted around unnaturally. She gasped in horror at what she saw.

"George? Is that Damon?" Elena's emotions rose out of her control. Her Damon lay on the ground in front of her with a broken neck. Hysteria rose deep within her, threatening to set her into a rage she hadn't felt since losing Jeremy.

"Sorry, Katherine, but he came from behind and attacked me. If I had not killed him he would have interfered with your escape. Quickly, we must get to the carriage before they see us. You still owe me my payment. Come!" George pulled her away from Damon, and for a moment she was almost too weak to stop the man with his werewolf strength, but Katherine's body was already recovering from the vervain.

"No!" She yanked her arm away from him, regaining control of her emotions as she remembered that Damon had originally died this same night and reawoken as a vampire.

Her blood was already in his system. His manner of death had changed. He must have been coming to rescue her here at the church because his future self had arrived in this time with her. She just had to take him with her now and ensure he turned like he was supposed to. "Take him with us, George, or you'll never get the moonstone!"

He glared at her angrily before picking up the dead body. "You've turned him havent you, Katherine?" He sneered with contempt, "I should have never agreed to this deal. After you give me the moonstone you must take him with you and never return to Mystic Falls."

"Don't worry. Get us out of here safely and you will get what I owe you, and then we will leave. Just make sure that noone ever knows we escaped." Elena decided that she didn't want to risk a fight with a werewolf, and since George and Katherine both survived their deal the first time, she didn't think he'd double cross her now. She also wasn't sure if Tyler was a direct decendant of him or not, and didn't want to prevent him from ever being born.

She picked up the rifle that had been next to Damon's body and followed after George away from the burning church and into the darkness.