Previously on Flightmate...

E, B and C are on a flight to Europe. D&E bond. Plane crashes. D&E are stranded on an island. D compels E to stay in a cave - as he is worried for her safety.

Chapter 11: Be A Teenager

It's been four hours. Damon was nowhere to be seen. Sleep seemed to evade her that night, mocking her, not providing the distraction she so desperately needed. She twisted and turned on the cold floor, the scratchy surface splitting her skin every time she moved. It was dark. The temperature was definitely below zero degrees. Elena had absolutely no means of escaping her inevitable deep-freezing to death. Goddamn this cold weather. She curled into herself to collect all her body heat. Damn you Damon. Why did I have to be your subject of interest? Why do I get to live, however sorrowful?

At least she wasn't dead. Elena was starting to wonder if that was a good thing.

Damon wasn't a morally sane vampire. He definitely did not belong in the same category as Edward. He was…more intense. Not to mention, meaner. Damon Salvatore took what he wanted. He did what he liked. He didn't care about people's feelings, or maybe it was all pretend. Under what rationale, can someone leave a person out in the cold and walk away?

Elena pored over if it was better to be rude, less painful. Hurt someone before they hurt you. It was tempting. A voice stopped her. Turning off your emotions is never a permanent respite from your pain. It'll haunt you until you face it.

True.

Elena wondered how long they were going to stay in that godforsaken land. He can't keep me here forever, right? Surely he'd get bored and find another way out of here.

If he doesn't, I'm going to have to do something.

'Wake up sleepypants!'

No.

'Gilbert? Come on, I need to feed you. Plus you need to see something.'

'I can't,' Elena groaned. '-don't want to come-'

'Is someone forgetting that they haven't got a choice?'

Elena groaned. 'Shut up Damon. Let me sleep.'

'You had plenty of time to sleep last night.'

At this, Elena lost any previous drowsiness. She sat up so quick, Damon jerked back.

'I'm sorry, plenty of time to sleep?' her voice dripped with sarcasm. 'Where did you go last night, New York? Or did you not notice the cold with your special vampire skin?'

'Yes, actually.'

'You're such a-' she spluttered, frustrated at him. 'such a -'

'Prick?'

'Prick is an understatement.'

'Well, I'm sorry I forgot to leave a jumper behind. I wasn't informed I should put your needs before mine!'

'You're a vampire! You're more durable!' Elena's eyes pierced into his.

'Don't pretend to care now. It is clear from last night that you just want your food source fresh and alive.'

He froze - then turned away from her. Elena stared at his back, waiting for him to say something.

'Sorry, I got mad at you. I shouldn't have done what I did.'

Elena's heart stopped. She didn't expect him to say that - to apologize on his terms. Elena didn't want to ruin whatever'd changed in him.

'Apology accepted,' she whispered, sincerely.

Damon turned around, eyes peering ashamed. Elena knew he was as in shock as she about what he said.

'So?'

'So?' She repeated, confused.

'So will you eat your breakfast now?'

'Yeah, okay,' she agreed, grinning. 'I'm starving.' She checked behind Damon. He was empty.

There was no food.

'Okay what are you up to?' Elena perused cautiously.

Damon smirked at her. 'Come on.' He urged, standing, extending his hand. Elena stared. She used the ground. She still didn't trust him.

Freezing in the cold for over 7 hours? It was going to take more than a non-eye-to-eye apology to forgive something like that.

So why did she feel a pang of guilt when his hand dropped to his side sadly?

Damon stepped out into the glowing morning terrain. The sun enhanced his skin. It glowed paler than ever. Enraptured, Elena followed him outside.

Except she couldn't.

'Aaargh!' she growled, punching the invisible barrier at the entrance of the cave.

Damon asked, 'What's the matter now?'

'I can't get through!'

Damon smiled slowly at her, making Elena concerned for her safety. It was that look.

'Oh right. Do you want to come out, Elena?' he stated, in a sing-song voice.

'Damon,' she warned, trying to crash through. 'It's not working.'

'I know it isn't,' he smirked happily.

'Damon!' Elena stopped her efforts to deliver her full-on glare.

'Elena,' he repeated her. 'What do we say when we want something?'

She was pissed then.

What was he playing at?

'Not going to say it Damon. You might as well kill me.'

Elena resumed thrusting herself at the invisible barrier. Out of the corner of her eye, she caught Damon smirking. Two hands pushed her deeper into the cave. Eyes closed, ears folding, wind whipping her face, Elena flew. Her hair flopped down to her shoulders when she stopped.

As soon her eyes found his, the hands moved up her hips. Trailing upwards, tracing her waist, Elena squirmed. She stared unflinchingly back into Damon's eyes. The hands halted side of her breasts.

'If you wanted so much to get out of here and come over to the bad side, I thought I'd just...' he crept closer, 'make it easier for you.'

Elena glared at him in an are-you-kidding me way. This was nothing if not uncomfortable and creepy. 'Stop it- move Damon!'

'Heart's beating so fast but nothing shows on the face,' he continued unperturbed. 'You are a very different woman. It'd be a shame to kill such a feisty, annoying and pulchritudinous woman as yourself.'

Well. 'I wouldn't hesitate if I were a vexatious idiot as yourself. Death is better than this.' She didn't mean that, but it felt good to say it.

He smiled nonchalantly. 'I gave you 2 compliments and you give me none.'

'Well…' she cocked her head.

Damon's hands slipped to her neck, as he bored his gaze into her. Elena felt that familiar sensation of her mind being wiped clear of all thought. Complete silence.

'You can step outside the cave now.'

The silence evaporated. The background noise faded in and Elena blinked once. Damon was promptly walking out of the cave, leaving Elena to decipher what'd happened. She had no clue.

She strode straight out the cave.

'Where are we going Damon?'

Silence.

'Damon, where are you taking me?!' Elena questioned. 'I'm tired, I don't think I can walk anymore.'

'Don't worry, it's just a few minutes away.' He answered without turning to look at her. Elena frowned.

'Why can't you vamp-speed us there?'

'Because…I don't want to. And admit it, it's better travelling the forest by foot. I bet you've never been in an actual forest before. Here it is. Savour it.'

The island was quite beautiful. As Elena followed Damon into the forest, she viewed it differently compared to when she was lost in the dark. The trees glowed with sunlight; Elena could see the light rays bouncing off the surface like they did in her physics textbook. It was a bit too surreal. The forest hummed with birds and squirrels. She half expected to see the weird all-understanding crow again - but was glad she didn't. It didn't appear to be anywhere near her.

Damon stopped suddenly.

'Do you happen to know how to climb a tree?'

Elena narrowed her eyes in shock.

No freaking way.

She looked up at the treetops. A huge hammock was tied to the two adjacent eucalyptus tree trunks at least 100ft above them. Elena looked at the hammock and back at Damon as her face grew more frightened by the second.

'I AM NOT CLIMBING UP THERE.'

'Yes you are Elena. If you want to have breakfast, yes you have to.'

'DAMON! I can't climb hundred feet! What if I fall from that height? I am going to be dead!'

'There you go again! Questioning yourself and not stepping outside that safe castle,' he pointed out. 'If you fall, you'll be fine. Trust me.'

'Nope,' she shook her head, lightly. She was sure it was a joke. Any moment then, Damon was going to smirk and laugh at her. Right? 'You can go up there but I'll go find my own food somewhere else.'

'Oh come on!' Damon urged. 'Okay tell me this: have you ever done anything you secretly kinda sorta always wanted to do?'

'Yes, I am applying to Whitmore College to study literature - and have a good chance of getting in.'

Damon groaned, cupping his face with his palms.

'I don't mean that! I mean like this!' he pointed at the tree. 'Something stupid or crazy! You're a teenager. Be a teenager,' he continued changing her mind. 'Step away from your life for five minutes. Alright? Five minutes!'

Elena was almost on his side until she remembered her hand-eye coordination.

'No. There is a reason I've never done anything stupid or crazy,' she spoke. 'My hand-eye coordination is terrible. Plus the guilt that I feel after messing up... let's just say I feel guilt more powerfully than other people.'

Damon raised an eyebrow. 'Don't change the subject lady. Don't get me started on guilt,' he shook his head slightly, 'My life.'

She gazed at him for a moment. Point still stands, I am not climbing that tree.

'Well I'm heading back to the cave, so...' Elena turned back the way they walked. She only stopped when she heard a flapping noise next to her ear. Her hair whooshed onto her face.

Elena whipped around and there it was.

The black crow.

Elena didn't believe in superstition but the coincidence was too much that time. The first time she saw the crow, her plane crashed. The second time... under the tree, Damon held her captive. The crow was not a good omen.

Elena frantically looked around for Damon. The crow cawed for her attention and then- it clicked.

'No, no no no way no please no.'

Another memory surfaced in her traumatized brain.

Please help, she thought. I have Jeremy and he needs me. I can't die now please. Jenna, Alaric, Bonnie, Caroline. Help my friends. Help me.

Suddenly, she noticed a crow flying into view. Elena was sure it was the same one she saw in the underwater and the recently blown up plane. The crow swooped closer and closer to Elena, staring at her in a very un-crow-like fashion. The crow did not stop in its tracks and as soon as it got close enough, it dived headfirst into the water. Elena stared, shocked. A crow never behaved like that. Maybe it was a type of seagull, she wondered.

As she stared at the spot where the crow crashed into the ocean, she noticed the small dark shape of the bird that was slowly increasing in size. Elena thought her eyes were playing tricks on her. But as noticed two muscly arms and legs sprout from the bird, she knew it was real. She watched the bird transform into the body of a… man, but as soon as the metamorphosis was complete, Elena was inching slowly towards unconsciousness. It was too much to process and the water was making her numb by the second.

As her eyes closed, she noticed a black head, followed by pale skin rise out of the water. As Elena watched in horror, a handsome man emerged from the ocean waters, his hair and black outfit dripping wet. Elena wondered semiconsciously if she'd seen the man before.

When he opened his eyes, after wiping his face dry with his black leather jacket sleeve, she knew she was right. With eyes as blue as the ocean around them, she would have recognized them anywhere.

Eyes that were looking at her with anguish and alarm.

'Shut up.'

The crow morphed into Damon. He was smirking at her.

'It's only the truth Elena.'

'Oh my god,' Elena dropped. Damon swiftly caught her. He lied her gently on the forest terrain. 'You rescued me. From the ocean. You were the crow. I saw you,' she put the pieces together. 'What-how-when?'

'It's a special ability. I don't know how but after I became a vampire, I could turn into a crow. It's a bit weird. No one's ever questioned it before.'

'I'm sorry 'no one'?' Elena looked at him incredulously. 'some people know about you?'

'Correction: some people knew about me. They are all dead,' he spoke, in a soothing voice. Elena flinched. She observed him with contained suspicion. Damon's lips twitched.

'Ask me Elena, I know you are dying to'

'Fine, did you kill those people?' Elena held her breath.

'I separated their heads from their bodies, yes,' he confirmed.

Elena was officially terrified. If that man could admit to murder without any glimmer of shame or remorse, he was irretrievable. There was no good left in Damon. Her face was a picture of anger. She grimaced at him and looked away in loathing.

'And I guess just so you don't forget, I can do whatever I like to you too. I just didn't kill you yet because there is no way out of this place. I can try to get out of here. Vampires hate water but we hate our secrets getting out even more. The fact that you're still breathing is a gesture of my kindness.'

'Well hallelujah to me! I am so grateful I am not dead!' she dragged the syllables sarcastically. 'You just admitted to killing people like-like- I don't know. I don't know what you are Damon. No, I don't mean the vampirism bit,' she spoke hurriedly, 'I don't know what you are capable of. Let's get one thing straight. I am not here to fix you or get you to bury the monster. I don't even know if you've got a good side anymore.

'You're scaring me. I really shouldn't be here with you,' she spoke, lighting the firecracker, walking backwards to protect herself.

And then she ran.

She ran faster than that night. She sprinted. Elena wondered why he didn't catch her yet. She didn't expect escape. Stopping when she lost sight of him, she held her body up against a tree and panted. She peered around the trunk to see if he was where she left him.

A breeze blew past her face. A warm blast of air. Reawakening life.

Oh no, he did not.

He was playing with me. He knows I can't get away. He's giving me false satisfaction.

Her feet left the ground and Elena screamed. Her head ripped out of her body, her mahogany hair all over the place and the world blurred past as he sped her back. It stopped after just a second. Elena looked up. There they were.

He'd brought her back to the hammocks.

The hammocks.

Damon put her down and sped up the tree just in time for Elena to catch the black leathery whirl reach the top. He pointed one finger at her and curled it towards him. Elena shook her head in disbelief. He chuckled and disappeared into one of the hammocks.

Fine. I'll show him.

Elena started her journey to her food. Hundred feet up.

Damn her competitive streak.

Don't we all love a good old Delena fight? We dooooo.

CONGRATULATIONS TO NINA, IAN, CANDICE AND THE SHOW FOR WINNING 4 TCAs THIS YEAR! It's all RA! RA! GO TEAM! It's 5 in a row for Ian. Well deserved. See ya at FanExpo sweetie. Don't you dare cancel on me.

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