Chapter 2: Facing reality

When Valerie arrived at the neighborhood where Julian had turned an alleyway into his fight club arena, as Stefan so poetically put it, she realized right away that it was deserted. She raced to search for Stefan and found him standing in front of a white, bloodstained platform. He didn't seem to notice her presence as he stared at the ground in front of him

"Stefan?" she said carefully.

He turned around with such a broken look on his face that she found it hard not to pull him into a firm embrace. But she resisted, reminding herself that Caroline had asked her to help him. Not cuddle up with him.

"They were here barely an hour ago…" he said and shook his head in confusion. He looked over at the platform once more and brought his hands to his head. "How could I let this happen?"

"Listen to me." Valerie said and walked over to put a hand on his shoulder and turn him towards her. "You are not to blame for what has befallen your brother."

He nodded at her with a dark look. "You're right." he said.

She tilted her head back slightly as his words confused her.

"Julian is." Stefan then said with such a cold voice that Valerie wondered if he'd suddenly turned into a completely different person right before her. "He was the one who trapped Damon in that hell stone. He was the one who took our mother away from us. He was the one who…" he looked into her eyes for a moment and clenched his jaw. "Who killed our child." he spat.

His words made her wince and her eyes grew at the look he wore on his face.

"It's all on him." he continued. "We need to stop him before he drags Damon down with him."

Valerie nodded. "I'll try a locator spell." she assured him and squeezed his shoulder. "But first you need to calm down, I don't care for the look in your eyes."

"I don't care for this lunatic taking everything away from me." he spat and pulled away from her. "And when I find him, I will kill him."

"Don't be foolish, Stefan." she scoffed, nearly rolling her eyes. "We both know it will be your funeral."

"I don't care!" he said, echoing his brother's words from earlier. "I'm going to find a way to end him for good."

Valerie studied him for a moment as he was staring out into the air with hatred seeping through his pores. "Let's focus on finding your brother first." she said, attempting to center him.

His phone rang in his pocket then but he dismissed the call without even checking the display. "Do the locator spell." he said with a nod.

"What if that was your brother?" she asked confusedly.

"It wasn't. He dumped his phone days ago. Now, please, do the spell so we can stop him from doing something reckless or dangerous…"

She gave him a nod and they began walking towards her car while she spoke. "I have a map; we'll need it as well as some of your blood. And possibly one of your friends to assist us in this suicide-rescue mission." she muttered, taking the map out and spreading it over the hood of the car.

He bit into his hand and held it up to her, she took it and let his blood drip over the map while she started chanting.

His phone rang again at that moment, making him let out an irritated grunt before answering. "What!?" he hissed.

"Stefan, where the hell are you!?" Alaric's voice growled back in response.

"Ric?" he said stunned at his tone.

Valerie glanced over at Stefan but he nodded at the map, encouraging her to continue the spell.

"You better get to the hospital right now, or I swear to God Stefan…" Alaric threatened.

"Wh-whoa, hold on. Slow down! What's going on?" Stefan stuttered, panic starting to grow in his chest. When he'd left Caroline, she was fine. Could something have changed since then?

Suddenly Bonnie's voice echoed in the background. "I'll try a spell…" she said and began an incantation.

"Spell? What happened!?" Stefan exclaimed, putting two and two together.

Valerie finished her spell then and looked at him. "Whitmore." she said shortly. "They're at Whitmore College."

He looked confusedly at her for a moment. "What are they doing-"

"Stefan!" Alaric yelled out. "Caroline is in trouble and whatever Bonnie's doing doesn't seem to be working!"

"Stefan?" Valerie said carefully, trying to figure out what he wanted to do.

"You go." he told her after a moment's consideration. "Help Bonnie with Caroline. I'll go to Whitmore."

"You can't go after Julian alone!" she protested.

"Fine, I'll get Enzo to go with me. But you have to leave now Valerie, please." he pleaded.

She nodded. "Fine. Get Lorenzo, take the car and… Be careful." Her voice echoed the pleads in his. She locked her eyes on his for a moment before she finally disappeared with a gush of wind.

"Valerie's on her way." Stefan said with the phone still pressed to his ear and stepped into the car with the map in his hand. "I'll get there as soon as I can." He was just about to hang up when Alaric stopped him.

"When you do," he sighed exasperatedly before continuing with a threatening tone "Just hurry, Stefan."

He didn't know what to say to that, hearing the silent accusations and blame in Ric's voice. Hanging up and putting the phone away along with the map, he scolded himself for leaving Caroline alone in the first place. But he needed to get Damon back, and there was nothing he could've done for her anyway. At least Valerie can cast a spell or something to help. Meanwhile he would probably just get in the way.

With that he turned the key, which Valerie had left in the ignition, and accepted his decision. He couldn't help Caroline but he could rescue Damon. And he'd be damned if he didn't get him back now.


Caroline felt cold.

She slowly sensed that she was lying down somewhere, her eyes closed shut and her body completely numb. Her mind was blank. She couldn't remember what she had just been doing nor how she ended up wherever she was now.

Feeling like she was in the middle of a deep slumber that made her completely unable to move, she finally managed to open her eyes and all she saw was a dark sky full of stars.

In the corner of her eyes she saw something else.

Treetops. A whole line of them on each side of her, stretching further than she could see in her current position.

She tried desperately to get her mind to work as it felt just as numb as her body. Closing her eyes and taking a few deep breaths, she focused on simply analyzing what she knew.

Aside from the cold, she could feel the hard surface underneath her. Considering the sky above her she guessed she was on a road. Somewhere. In the middle of the night… That thought was enough to stir emotions in her stomach, bringing her mind to some kind of clarity as she became even more aware of herself.

She still couldn't remember how she'd gotten there or anything else up until this point. Opening her eyes, she tried to find answers in the stars above her and studied them for a long moment.

There were no crickets, as she'd expect hearing if it really was in the middle of the night. There weren't any sounds, now that she thought about it… Nothing but the wind passing through the trees, making the leaves scramble and shake… She concentrated on that, hoping her hearing would aid in getting her mind to focus on something other than the emptiness around her. The shaking got louder when her vamp-hearing tuned in. It continued growing higher, as if someone was slowly turning the volume up on a radio set on a white noise channel.

Still getting louder, the noise started morphing into something else… Vibrations maybe. Or maybe she was simply focusing her hearing on a new sound. Whatever it was it was getting deafening, echoing in her ears and mind so loudly that she could swear she felt her whole body shake with it.

Then, as if someone suddenly turned the radio off, she remembered that she was lying on a road and the sounds stopped. Her hearing wasn't focused on anything anymore; her mind had instead become fully aware of the vibrations still covering her body. She was shaking. But not from the sounds. From something else.

That's when she caught the new sound; An engine running.

She snapped her head to the side and stared in its direction as she saw lights from a car, driving straight towards her. And it didn't seem like the driver had any intentions of slowing down.

Didn't they see her? Lying there? In the middle of the road?

The car approached quickly, making the vibrations grow stronger... That's it. She'd been sensing the vibrations from the ground made by the car that was driving towards her. The car that would hit her if she didn't move out of the way…

Maybe the driver would dodge her? Go around her? Stop right before hitting her?

No, the car didn't seem to stray from its direction. And it didn't seem to slow down either. It was actually going faster now. Making her suddenly very aware of her panicked breathing and heaving chest.

Maybe they'll stop… she thought and felt tears start to run down her cheeks. She bit her lower lip to try and stop herself from crying but it didn't help.

Focus, Caroline! she demanded herself and felt a surge of adrenaline run through her. She let out a gasp as a tingle suddenly spread over her legs and arms. She stared at the approaching car once more and realized she needed to move within the next few seconds or else…

She let out a loud, pain filled growl, and just like that she suddenly had full sensation of her body again. Right when the car was going to run her over, she rolled over in vamp speed and landed on the opposite lane. Away from the car as it passed by in a violent gush of wind.

She laid limb on the ground for a long moment, panting as her mind caught up with her actions.

I did it, she thought. A wave of relief washed over her, making the tears stop right away as her eyes scanned the road for any other cars. There were none.

Standing up on her feet, she struggled a little to find her balance but soon managed to take a step forward. Expect she realized she didn't know where she should go. She didn't even know where she was.

Tears began to run down her cheeks once more, filling her with frustration as she let out a cold chuckle.

"Enough with the crying, already!" she hissed at herself and ran her hands over her face to dry the tears off. "Just think, Caroline. Think."

That's when a new car suddenly appeared right in front of her, heading straight towards her. She didn't even have time to think as she stared at it while it was approaching, like a deer caught in the headlights. And caught she was because the chock suddenly made her unable to move out of the way.

She raised her arms over her face in an attempt to protect herself somehow and shut her eyes hard. A loud gasp leaving her lips as she heard the car merely a foot away from her. In a heartbeat she realized there was nothing she could do and simply awaited the hit… The crash, the pain.

But it never came.

All she heard was her own shallow, hyperventilating breaths. And all she saw was darkness.

Then she remembered she was covering her face and her eyes were closed, so she slowly opened one of them to find out why the car hadn't run her over yet.

There was no car.

She opened the other eye and lowered her arms to her lap. She wasn't standing in the road anymore; she was sitting down in a passenger seat. The long dark highway in front of her and the trees flashing by her outside of the window.

"Mommy?"

The silent voice made her flinch and she turned around to examine its source when she stopped and stared at the figure to her left.

It was her.

Sitting in the driver's seat. Driving and talking on the phone with someone.

How was this happening? What was this? Before she had the chance to open her mouth and ask what the hell was going on she realized the driving Caroline wasn't reacting to her sitting there next to her. She probably couldn't even see her… Then she remembered having heard something before. She turned to look behind her and froze at the new sight.

Two young girls sat in booster car seats. One of them was asleep while the other sat looking doe-eyed and confused. Caroline could tell in the dark that the sleeping girl was blonde while the other had dark hair, but aside from that she couldn't distinguish much else. Like who they were for example…

"Mommy?" The awake girl spoke just as the driving Caroline hung up her phone.

"Shhhh, don't wake up your sister." she whispered, throwing a glance over to the girls before focusing on the road in front of her.

"Where are we going?" the girl asked.

Caroline turned around to study the driver just as she answered.

"To New Orleans. To visit mommy's friend."

Flinching and nearly dropping her jaw to the car floor, Caroline stared at her driving self in both chock and confusion. Was she talking about… Klaus!?

No, that isn't possible. This isn't possible… None of this makes any sense, she thought to herself and covered her face with her palms. She was still so very confused… How was she here? What was this? And what about the twins in the back–?

The twins, she thought as it suddenly hit her. They were twins…

Her twins.

Before she had a second thought she lowered her hands from her face and was nearly blinded. There was suddenly so much light in front of her that it took her a few seconds before her eyesight adjusted. She was no longer sitting in that car and she was nowhere near that road…

She was standing in a forest, the same-looking treetops she'd seen in the dark earlier were now accompanied by a clear, light blue sky. As she looked above her she couldn't see the sun anywhere. Still, it was light as an early afternoon… But how?

"What's going on!?" she hissed and ran her hands through her hair in desperation. Spinning around she suddenly saw the forest gradually ending in front of her and something non-organic peeking up between the trees.

Walking out of the woods, she ended up stepping out to an empty street with old buildings on both sides. She had never seen this place before, the street reaching far beyond the horizon and seeming to never end.

Then she heard some kind of whispers passing her by like gusts of wind around her. She couldn't decipher what the voices were saying but they appeared and disappeared just as quickly. Then another whisper, or wind, hit her from her left and flew past her. It all seemed to fade out into a specific direction; forward.

She decided to go after it and began following the street. There was another whisper that seemed to confirm that she was headed in the right direction, then it disappeared and silence hung over her.

The buildings didn't just look old, they looked abandoned. There didn't seem to be a single person anywhere and there were signs that there hadn't been people around for a very long time. She got a little caught up in studying her environments that she had unintentionally begun walking further to the left side of the street.

The whispers didn't seem to like that very much. A gust hit her from behind and another from her left; flying past her and to a small opening between two buildings.

An alley? Seriously?

Another, more violent gust of wind and whispers pushed her further into that direction so she decided to follow it. At this point she didn't really see any harm in it…

Crossing the street and turning to walk out to the alleyway, she suddenly stopped dead in her tracks when she saw herself standing there.

And she wasn't alone.

Klaus was standing there too, face to face with this other Caroline.

She studied the back of his silhouette for a moment, realizing how different he seemed. His hair was a lot longer than the last time she'd seen him, a little curly even, and he wore a long, grey coat with an upturned collar.

Just then he seemed to be turning around and in panic Caroline took a step to her right to hide behind the building wall.

She heard him hiss something, his voice cold and irritated until it finally grew into a shout.

"Drop the theatrics already and show your true self!"

His words made her flinch as she suddenly wondered whether he was talking about her. She stretched her head to peek at him as he turned around to the other Caroline. That version seemed disoriented too as she opened her mouth to finally speak.

"Why are you here, Klaus?" she asked him.

Caroline frowned as she watched this copy of hers take a step towards Klaus only for him to back away from her.

"I don't understand." she said and shook her head. "What's going on, Klaus?"

Good question…

Klaus didn't seem to know how to answer, standing still for a long moment without saying anything. After what felt like an eternity, he started walking towards the blonde he was facing. Once they were standing close together, his hand reached out and cupped her cheek gently.

The sight made Caroline's own cheek burn slightly as she had a very vivid memory of how his touch affected her skin. She brushed her hand over the side where he was holding the other Caroline, wondering if the blonde felt butterflies in her stomach. Because she knew she would've been if it had been her over there. She always did. Butterflies accompanied by a racing heart and burning skin and shivers running all over her body…

But this time she wasn't the one being touched by Klaus. She was somehow watching as a version or copy or clone or something of hers was. And it made her feel uncomfortable, like she was intruding on a very intimate moment.

"Is this a mirage?" she heard Klaus ask with such a soft voice that it nearly broke her heart.

Maybe it is, she thought before looking away. She leaned back against the building behind her, closing her eyes and taking a few deep breaths. She couldn't watch them anymore; it was too… Bizarre.

After a long moment she opened her eyes and saw the air before her seeming to shimmer. It thickened and suddenly morphed into a figure, a woman with hair a mixed color of blonde and red. Once she was fully materialized in front of her she seemed to focus her eyes on Caroline and began walking towards her.

At that, Caroline recognized her and gasped. "Valerie?" she stuttered.

The red-head didn't answer, instead she kept walking towards her with determined steps and then grabbed onto her arm.

"Wait… no!" Caroline exclaimed when she realized what was happening, but it was too late.

The moment Valerie had taken ahold of her arm; Caroline's vision began blurring out. Everything around her started fading while Valerie stayed in focus. A rush of energy passed through her with such power that it took Caroline's breath away. And once again she found herself closing her eyes and disappearing from wherever she'd been at the moment.

Except this time, she didn't open her eyes again.


Apparently, Valerie had texted Enzo on her way to the hospital because Stefan received a call from him the minute he passed the Mystic Falls' border. She had probably known that Stefan wouldn't waste time calling for back up when he finally knew where Damon was. She had been right, which was irritating and only tempted him to ignore Enzo's call more. But after a moment he gave in and answered.

"In need of some help, mate?" he asked with an arrogantly amused tone.

"That depends on how fast you can get to Whitmore College." Stefan said with nonchalance, refusing to indulge in whatever ego-boost Enzo got out of the situation.

"It so happens that I'm already here."

"Y-you what?" Stefan pushed down the gas pedal further, gritting his teeth at the remaining distance he was facing. "What are you even doing there!?" he asked hurriedly.

"Well, that's a long story. Anyhow, I imagine you would prefer it if I held off on approaching Damon until you arrive?"

"Do you know where he is?"

"I do."

Stefan cursed to himself and realized he was clenching his fists around the steering wheel with such force that it could soon break. He relaxed his hands and let out the breath that he subconsciously had been holding. "It'll take me at least an hour, and that's if I break every speed limit over there."

"I'm not sure that we have an hour, mate. They seem to be preparing to leave." Enzo said with a low voice, as if trying to go unheard by someone.

"What!?" he exclaimed and cursed to himself once more. "Get Damon away from Julian as fast as you can!"

"And how do you suggest I do that?" he mocked and let out a scoff.

"Just do something! Enzo, we can't let him get away. You hear me?"

It was silent for a long moment. Stefan could just barely hear someone moving around on the other end. "Enzo!?" he yelled.

"Shhh!" he hissed back. "Just… Give me a minute to think up a plan, yes?"

"Keep me posted." Stefan demanded and hung up. He realized he had subconsciously decelerated to comply to the speed limit and immediately added far too many miles to the velocity indicator than recommended. But he didn't care. If the car broke down he would simply run the rest of the way.

It could even end up being more effective, he thought and made a left turn out of Mystic Falls.


When Stefan finally arrived at Whitmore College, about 70 minutes later, he parked the car and began dialing Enzo again. He noticed that Valerie had texted and, feeling confused over how he'd missed it, he canceled the call and read her message instead. It said that they had Caroline's condition under control for now and that they called in the other Heretics to help keep her stabilized.

The relief he felt at that mixed with a sting of worry… It was never a good sign when you suddenly needed five witches to keep someone alive and it suggested that Caroline had been far worse off than Stefan had originally thought. Deciding to focus on his own task at hand, he settled for the knowledge that she was finally safe and called Enzo.

"They're in one of the dorms." Enzo's voice said, not bothering with small talks or pleasantries.

"Which one?" Stefan asked, mimicking the straight-to-business attitude.

"Hell if I know!" he scolded and let out a deep sigh. "Somewhere in the east wing."

"You don't have eyes on them!?" Stefan hissed through clenched teeth and hurried out of the car.

"Not really. I'm trying to keep a distance. Wouldn't want to get caught eavesdropping as I'm sure you can imagine."

He took a deep breath to calm himself down before answering. "Fine… where are you?"

"Outside the entrance to the dorm building."

Stefan hung up and sped over to the east side of campus. He found Enzo standing outside like he'd said, but he wasn't alone. There was a tall, Asian man with dark hair and eyes, dressed in head-to-toe black just like Enzo. They were facing each other, seemingly in the middle of a conversation which they abruptly ended when he reached them.

"Who the hell are you?" Stefan asked venomously as he approached the stranger.

"Someone who can be of assistance." Enzo answered nonchalantly before the man had a chance to even open his mouth. "After all; you do wish for your brother back, correct?"

Stefan gave him a grim look and studied the other man for a moment. "Fine. Where are they?" he then said with his eyes on Enzo once more.

Enzo stepped aside and gestured his hand to the door, encouraging him to go first.

Giving the men an incredulous look each, Stefan entered the building with both of them close behind. They walked silently through the hallway, trying to hear which dorm room Damon and Julian were in. The dorms were filled with sleeping students, and some not sleeping, which made it difficult to tell which direction to follow. After a moment of hesitation,

Enzo nodded towards the second floor and Stefan gave him a nod before leading the way up the stairs. It took some time but Stefan eventually caught the sound of Julian's voice and felt anger rush through him like bolts of electricity.

"… I'm not willing to take that risk." Julian's voice was harsh and quiet, almost sounding… scared.

"What makes you think you can outrun her? I mean, where would we even go? Madagascar?" Damon's voice quickly followed. "This isn't what I signed up for when we formed our little Hell-Stone-survivors'-support-group."

There was a silence for a moment, some kind of ruffling or moving around before Julian continued,

"I have my ways of escaping her if the threats of her return end up being genuine."

They were able to point out the dorm which they seemed to be hiding in and stood outside the door. For a moment Stefan was unsure of himself, he hadn't exactly planned anything more elaborate than to simply grab Damon, snap his neck if necessary, throw him in the car and drive back to Mystic Falls before Julian caught up with them. He hadn't had the time to give his strategies a second thought before Julian's voice was heard once more, this time directed towards them.

"Gentlemen, are you unaware that spying is terribly juvenile and rather insulting to a vampire of my age?" he called out with traces of amusement in his voice.

Stefan stared at Enzo in panic. Now what?

"Come on, Stefan, there's no need for denying it. You were hardly being discreet… Step inside and face me, will you?" he said challenging.

For a moment Stefan considered whooshing in and going through with whatever plan he had imagined earlier, but he realized there was no point. Not now that they no longer had the element of surprise on their side. So he decided to open the door and step into the dorm slowly.

Walking reluctantly as the men followed him still, the first thing Stefan noticed was two young men sitting in a couch, staring straight into the air. He could recognize the compelled look on their faces and imagined the dorm belonged to them.

"Welcome." Julian said as he appeared before him with a smug, half-smile smirk and bottle of liquor in his hand.

Stefan acknowledged him with a nod and started looking for Damon, who was standing in the far end of the dorm, turned away and looking out through a window with a bottle of his own. "Hello, brother." he said without turning around, taking a few clunks from the drink at hand.

Stefan studied him for a moment before facing Julian again, Enzo and his companion taking a stand on each side of him.

"Lorenzo." Julian said and glanced over at the third visitor. "I see you've made some new friends during our time apart."

"I'm sure I don't need to tell you why we're here." Stefan kept his back straight and his chin held up high, refusing to let Julian intimidate him in any way.

Julian smiled wickedly in return and lifted the bottle in his hand to point his index finger at him. "Your brother doesn't need to be rescued by you, mate." he snickered. "So I suggest you leave and not bother us again, or I might just feel tempted to end your petty little life once and for all."

Stefan still refused to show any fear and shrugged casually. "Hand over Damon and I won't come after you again."

For a moment Julian seemed genuinely stunned by his words and started to laugh in amusement. "Did you catch that, mate?" Julian chuckled and turned to Damon. "Your brother is willing to put his grudge and resentment towards me aside in the hopes of redeeming you. Ironic, don't you think?"

Now it was Stefan's turn to look stunned. And confused. What was Julian talking about?

Damon turned around with a grim face. He walked over to Julian and shoved his liquor towards his chest. "Hold this, will you?" he said with a slight smirk. "I need to have a conversation with my baby brother."

Julian grabbed the bottle with his free hand and squinted at Damon for a moment before he nodded, granting him his consent. "Make sure to keep it short." he said and glanced over at Stefan. "Wouldn't want to miss our flight later." he smirked and brought his nearly empty bottle up to his lips.

Stefan grabbed Damon's arm and sped out of the dorm. He managed to drag him all the way outside of the building before his brother yanked his arm back.

"We don't have much time, Damon. Let's go!" Stefan said with a low voice as he studied the distraught face his brother was making.

"I'm not going anywhere, Stefan." he said and wobbled a little on his feet as he backed away from him.

Enzo and his lackey showed up beside them in the blink of an eye, looking restless and rushed. "Well?" Enzo asked. "Are we making a run for it or not?"

Stefan looked at Damon. "Listen. Whatever Julian's got on you, it's not worth throwing everything away. It's not worth turning into this person…"

Damon sneered and let out a short, humorless chuckle. "How can you say that when you don't even know what I've done?" he mocked.

"Because I know you, Damon." Stefan said, closing the distance between them to grab his arms and hold him in place. "I've known you for almost two centuries now, which means I know when you are about to go off the rails and lose yourself. And I'm here to make sure that no matter what happens in the nearest future that you are still the same person that Elena fell in love with once she wakes up. She doesn't deserve to come back to find you-"

"What, Stef?" he cut him off with wide eyes and a daring tone. "To find me… having turned into a monster? A killer? A heartless, cold, selfish-"

"Arrogant." Enzo chimed in, making them both turn to glare at him as he continued. "… Smug, sadistic, egotistical maniac of an alcoholic with a flair for the dramatic. Now that we have established all of your many flaws, mate, can we get the bloody hell out of here?"

"Gladly." Stefan said and tried to pull Damon further away from the building but he shrugged out of his hands.

"Trust me, Stefan. You won't want to go anywhere with me after you find out the truth." he said with a clenched jaw.

This was getting ridiculous, Stefan knew Julian must be hearing their escape attempt and it was only a matter of time before he decided to go after them. They didn't have time to argue over Damon's morals or whatever he'd done, they needed to get out of there now. "I don't care, Damon!" he grunted urgently. "Whatever you did or think you've done or are about to do, it doesn't matter. I'm not going to let you-"

"I killed Elena." Damon's voice was hoarse and raspy as he cut him off.

This time Stefan was certain he'd imagined his brother's words. Surely, he didn't say what he thought he'd just said. "What are you talking about?" he asked incredulously.

"I killed her." Damon repeated, not able to meet his eyes and therefore staring into the air next to him instead. "My visions of Henry, they made me think that I… He made me think that I was freeing myself of the hallucinations… I burned her to ashes. I didn't know what I was doing, but it doesn't matter. Not really." He looked into his brother's eyes and gritted his teeth. "Because she's dead, Stefan. It doesn't matter what kind of a person I've become or what I turn into because she won't be there to see any of it. She's gone. And it's my fault."

Enzo had fallen completely silent beside them, the look of disbelief mixed with disappointment on his face echoed Stefan's attempt at denying his brother's words.

She's gone.

The sentence echoed through his mind for a long moment as Damon's confession slowly sunk in. After feeling completely numb for a heartbeat he suddenly felt like his heart had been ripped out of his chest. His lungs filling with gravel and his stomach turning and twisting as if physically rejecting what his brother was saying.

She's dead.

Only a few seconds passed before Stefan managed to actually respond to the words… With a punch straight across Damon's jaw, hard enough to break it and send him falling to the ground. He held a hand over the side of his face and spit out some blood.

Stefan saw red right then, he realized that the punch wasn't nearly enough to express the rage and pain that had begun consuming him. He wanted to jump at him once more but something made him realize that it wasn't necessary. Damon was already punishing himself for this.

And suddenly he saw everything so clearly. This was the reason Damon had been acting out. Julian wasn't manipulating him or blackmailing him… Damon was choosing to follow Julian because of what he did. Because he thought he couldn't go back to his friends after…

"Stefan…" Damon pleaded, straightening up and looking him deep in the eye.

Stefan had no idea what he was going to say to try and excuse himself, or redeem himself or whatever. Because at that moment, as he thought his compassion for his brother had soothed his anger, he suddenly felt another surge of it hit him and making him punch him once more; this time in the stomach.

He managed to stop at that second punch though, turning around and leaving Damon half-down on the ground.

This was it. He was done. Out of all of the horrendous things Damon had done in the past, this overshadowed everything else. Seeing his face made him physically sick and it appalled him to think of how hard he had been trying to rescue him from Julian… To help him… But he wasn't ever going to do that again. Not after what he'd done. And as far as he was concerned; Damon was exactly where he belonged – alongside a man just as evil as himself.

So he walked away. Leaving his brother behind, as well as the vague sounds of Enzo trying to get his attention and eventually giving up. He kept walking until he was eventually sitting in Valerie's car. And after a long moment it suddenly hit him once more.

And it all came crashing down.


Damon stepped back into the dorm, not too long after Enzo had left to go after his brother with his mysterious friend in tow. He gulped down the guilt from seeing Stefan's expression when he found out the truth about Elena, realizing that telling the others would be just as excruciating… And wondering how on earth he would ever be able to live with himself if he lost everyone else because of what he had done.

"Well?"

Damon snapped his eyes to the window where Julian stood brooding just as the Brit turned around.

"Are you finally ready to cut the strings that are keeping you in Virginia?" he asked and walked over to him slowly. "Are you ready to embrace your new self, Damon? Are you ready to finally set yourself free?" He held a bottle of bourbon for him to take and smirked expectantly.

"By running from your old enemies?" Damon sneered in sarcasm and grabbed the bottle to put it away from the both of them.

Julian chuckled. "No, Damon. By escaping yours."

"What are you talking about?" he snickered and walked around him, glancing over at the compelled students who sat quietly in their assigned seats.

"Ever since you returned from your imprisonment in the Phoenix Stone, the ghosts from the stone have tried to rid you of who you used to be so that you could finally become true to your own nature." Julian said, drawing his attention back to the suddenly philanthropic vampire. "You have been fighting your demons for far too long Damon, while the answer to your problems has been right in front of you the entire time!" he smiled widely and raised his arms in a big gesture.

"You don't need to punish yourself for the sins of your past! The pain, the guilt, the self-loathing; you don't need to cling to any of it. You can let it all go. You can leave it all behind you and run, as far away and as quickly as possible…" Julian shrugged before continuing. "Our flight takes off in two hours." he said and turned away from him, walking towards the door but stopping right in front of it.

He turned his face to the side to glance back at Damon over his shoulder. "Set yourself free, Salvatore." he said matter-of-factly before he exited the dorm.

Damon clenched his jaw and shut his eyes, remembering the look in Stefan's eye earlier… His brother had forgiven him for many things over the decades, but this… This was not something that they would be able to move past. And the thought that he would see the same kind of blame, anger and hate directed at him if he came clean to the rest of Elena's friends… If he came clean to Bonnie… Well, he wasn't sure he would be able to live with himself if he lost them. If he lost Bonnie too after already having lost Elena…

In that moment, he made a judgement call and found Julian's promises of a new identity, of the possibility of freeing himself from his past demons, to be far too tempting to turn down. So he listened after the older vampire, hearing him getting into a car in the parking lot, and chose to run instead.

Away from his past, away from his mistakes and away from his guilt.

He chose to run away from himself, and Julian seemed to be the best candidate to join in that purpose. Whatever it was that the Brit had planned for the two of them next…