Author's Note: I am incredibly notorious on my main account for having multiple stories at once; usually it's because I get stuck on one story and my only cure for Writer's Block (it seems!) is to start a new story. In this case, it was just a new idea that I had which I was really excited to go with. I hope that you'll enjoy this story, it's a little bit of a twist to the series of what may have happened if Elena had met Damon Salvatore first. (No worries - he's still badass as ever, and obsessed with Katherine for a reasonable amount of time!) Stefan will also still be in this story, eventually - he's the one who rescues Elena in the beginning, like in the show. It'll be told through multiple perspectives, switching from certain scenes like the show, and hopefully I can transition all that smoothly. It will still mostly be Elena's though since it's her story, of how she's torn between two brothers - which will still be happening in this story as well.

Disclaimer: I do not own 'The Vampire Diaries,' nor do I own any of the characters from the show. I'm just a fan who is looking for a way to keep busy so I'm not freaking out for the next few months waiting for season two to begin. This will be my one and only disclaimer.

Show Me The Way

Damsel In Distress-Like

Agony

"I've got you," Elena heard a male voice saying. "It's alright, shhh, shh."

She felt herself being set on the ground gently, a hand brushing the hair out of her face before the person was gone. Elena couldn't see anything; was she passing out? Dreaming?

There was a splash in the distance. Minutes passed before the sound of someone resurfacing could be heard.

"I'm sorry," the male voice was whispering. "I couldn't save them. I tried. God, you look just like her. But... you're not, are you? You can't be. She's dead, they killed her because of me. I couldn't let you die too. I don't know who you are, but... I feel drawn to you."

Elena didn't understand what he was saying, she didn't know who was dead or how she could possibly look exactly like this girl. All she knew was that something was terribly wrong.

"It's a miracle she survived at all," Elena heard a nurse whisper as she came to. Her head felt foggy, and she struggled to open her eyes.

"How awful for her though, to lose both parents like that. It's just a blessing the Gilbert's youngest son wasn't in the car too, one miracle is rare enough, but two? Poor boy would have died along with his parents."

Died... along with his parents? Mom and dad are... oh God. Elena's eyes fluttered open for the briefest of moments before everything began to spin and slowly faded to black.

A week later, Elena was released from the hospital to go home. If you wanted to call it home, since without her parents and with her brother locked in his room day in and day out, Elena was left alone with her aunt Jenna, who, try as she might, just wasn't a replacement for Elena's parents.

When Jeremy finally came out of his room, he wouldn't talk to anyone. Not Elena, not Jenna - no one. He went to school, his eyes dead and his motions stiff. He sat through each class silently, and didn't do any of his assignments. He just sat there, just existed in the classroom. His mind was never truly there.

Elena wasn't much better. She did the work, but just barely, and she was always distracted in class. Though her friends and her boyfriend Matt were worried about her, she couldn't bring herself to ease their minds. What would she tell them? That she was okay with the fact that her parents would never say they loved her again? Okay with the fact that they no longer existed? She couldn't lie to them, and she couldn't tell the truth. So she said nothing at all.

"Elena!" Elena ignored her name being called; she knew it was Matt, it was always Matt, and she didn't want to talk to him. She clutched her books tighter to her chest and continued walking until she felt his hand touch her shoulders. She flinched, and he removed his hand, seeming hurt. "I'm worried about you," Matt said gently, moving in front of her so that she had to look at him.

"Don't be." Everyone was worried about her; everyone thought that there was something wrong with her, something wrong with how she was acting. If Jeremy had more friends, they'd probably be badgering him too - but her brother had always been a bit of a loner at the highschool, and so not many even noticed his new attitude. Elena did, as she watched him stumble into a garbage can because he was so high that he could barely walk straight.

"But I am." Matt took her chin in his hands, lifting her head so that she had to look at him, not around him at her brother Jeremy, or past him where Bonnie and Caroline were watching, waiting to see if he got through to her.

"Matt, I don't think we should date anymore." The words slipped from her lips before she could even think about what she was saying. She and Matt had been best friends forever; everyone had been waiting for the day they would get together, and when they had, it had been like everything was right in the world.

Only it wasn't.

"What?" Matt's voice shook a little, surprise etched across his face. "Elena, I know you're hurting, but -"

"No, Matt. I mean, yes - yes, I'm hurting. But I just... I need time to myself, time to figure things out. I know I haven't been fair to you, or to Bonnie and Caroline. The truth is, I just can't bring myself to care. About anything. I need this. I need you to just... be my friend again. Just a friend, until I figure things out for myself."

Elena could see that he was no longer surprised; he only looked sad, and hurt. But he was also understanding, and she could see the acceptance in his eyes as the silence stretched between them. He kissed her on the forehead gently.

"I'll always be your friend, Elena." Before she could say anything, Matt was gone. She had hurt him badly, and she knew that he had only been putting on a strong front, but she was glad. Felt a little relieved, like finally one of the things looming over her head had gone away.

Over the next few weeks, Elena found herself gradually getting back to living. Not just existing, moving from point A to point B - but actually living. She still hadn't reconciled with Matt, wasn't even sure if that was what she wanted now. She was a changed person, and he would always be Matt.

The only thing that sent Elena back into the darkest depths of her mind was seeing her brother Jeremy, throwing his life away and risking it each day by doing drugs. He never talked to her anymore, and his so-called friends that he finally had weren't really friends. They just wanted their next hit, and they knew Jeremy was naive and would help them get it.

"I just don't understand how you can throw your life away like this, Jeremy," Elena finally said one day, when she cornered Jeremy in the bathroom they shared as he tried to put eye drops in. "Mom and dad would have never wanted this."

"They never would have wanted to be dead either, Elena, but guess what? They still are." Jeremy shot back, trying to move past her. Elena didn't budge.

"Everyone dies eventually, Jeremy."

"So what, that makes it okay that they're gone now? It makes everything better? Screw you, Elena. They wouldn't have even died if..." Jeremy trailed off, the colour draining from his face as he realized what he had almost said. "Elena, I'm..."

"No," Elena said, her voice breaking. "You're not. Because it's true - and we both know it." She turned on her heel and ran out of the house without looking back. It didn't matter where she went, so long as she got away.

Jeremy blamed her; how could he not?

It was her fault that her parents were dead.

And she didn't know how she was ever going to get over that.

Author's Note: I know, I know, it's pretty angsty and dramatic, but the next chapter will skip ahead in time a bit to where Elena is in a better place with her emotions and coping better with the death of her parents. I thought this chapter was necessary to get across the pain she feels and the guilt, as well as establishing some anger and tension between Elena and Jeremy.

The little bit at the beginning that's in italics is something that Elena thinks she remembers happening, but believes is just a dream she had while she was unconscious in the hospital. It was Stefan, and though I didn't say it in the story (yet), he has left Mystic Falls - for now.

I hope regardless of the angst you enjoyed this first chapter, I'll probably have the second one up soon since it's easier and quicker for me to work with purely original work than it is to do my other story, because with the other story I have to watch the episode I'm doing a chapter for, figure out what scenes I want to use, observe every tiny little detail about Damon as possible to make sure that I'm not stuck in Damon-is-nicer-and-sweeter-now-mode because of the last few episodes - so on so forth.