Hello, everyone! I'm so pleased with the positive response to the first two chapters. Thank you so much! With that said, many of you were confused by the apparent "time slip" in chapter two – all I have to say to that is keep reading to find out what happened! : )

This chapter contains a lot of reflection – characters reflecting on themselves, their relationships, etc – it's important to establish these types of things first before we jump back into the plot action!

Thanks for your continued support and please continue to read and review! : )

Ice
Part III: Frigid

No sleep today
Can't even rest when the sun's down
No time, there's not enough
And nobody's watching me now

-OneRepublic, "Fear"

"Katherine, please. If you have any idea where Damon is, you need to tell me," Stefan said desperately, pacing the barrier which separated the tomb from the outside world. "I think Klaus has him, but I don't know where." He ran a hand through his hair, clearly stressed and slightly exasperated at having to deal with Katherine. He had sensed the darkness seeping into Mystic Falls – he wasn't a psychic by any means, bur he could feel something powerful. Something that felt like a blood-thirsty Original.

He hadn't seen Damon in hours and he said that he would be back. Normally, Stefan wouldn't have paid any attention to it. But they had promised each other to always let someone know their whereabouts, in case something should happen. He had tried Damon's cell phone, but it had gone straight to voice mail.

He had left Elena with Rose at the boarding house, and said that he was going to go do a preliminary search, make sure Damon wasn't just at the Mystic Grill, too hammered to answer a phone call. Of course, he had lied. Because he knew – some innate, brotherly instinct was telling him that Damon was in a lot of trouble, and there was only one person who could help him with that, only one person who had any idea about the force that they were dealing with.

Katherine watched her former lover tug at his clothes and hair in desperation. He was damn near coming apart at the barley-held together seams. "If you want to know anything more about Klaus, you'll let me out of here," she said casually, with an inflection of amusement, as she watched a variety of emotions flicker over his pale face.

"You see, I can't do that," Stefan snapped angrily, slamming his fist into the wall, causing the area to shake. "Because I know what happens if I do!" He wanted to reach over into the tomb and strangle the information out of her. But, of course, he couldn't do that, unless he wanted to be locked in there with her. He honestly couldn't think of a more repulsive situation.

"I can help you," Katherine said softly, for once looking at Stefan in complete seriousness, meeting his glowing green eyes directly. "Stefan, I know you don't believe it, but I do love you. I've had to look out for myself all these years, but really, what the fuck do I have left? I executed my plan – I failed it and I failed to gain back your affections. But if you let me out of here, I can at least show you that I care about you. I can help you and Elena...and Damon." She let the offer hang in the air for a few moments.

Finally, Stefan said, "There's no way you would be willing to do this for me, Katherine. I helped put you in this tomb. You should hate me. You should want to rip my throat out. And as for me trusting you among the ones I care about...forget it! I saw what you've become at the masquerade – killing people just to prove a point. Jesus Christ, Katherine! How the fuck am I even supposed to believe anything you say?" Stefan stood directly in front of her now, anger dripping out of every pore as he attempted to make sense of the situation.

Katherine stood still for a moment and then brushed her hand down the tattered black dressed, straightening it out slightly. Something crossed her features – soft and pleading – that was willing Stefan to understand her plight. "I could care less about Elena – she took me from you, Stefan. But she does need to be protected and I could help do that. As for Damon..." A hush fell over the tomb as she thought. The only sound that could be heard was the winter wind whistling in and out of cracks and crevices of the dark, damp place.

"What?" Stefan whispered, probing her brown eyes.

"He didn't deserve what I put him through," Katherine said simply, twisting her hair in her hands. "I made his life hell – I lied, cheated, and compelled him. I suppose I did the same to you, but I never once lied about my affections when it came to you. When he told me that he spent the last 145 years missing me, wanting to be with me...I didn't know what to do, Stefan. Because after that long, it's still only been one person whom I've wanted – you." She sighed softly, looking down. "He deserves to be loved."

Stefan opened his mouth to cut her off, but she continued, dark eyes probing green ones in complete honesty, something that he could not recall seeing in her eyes before. "You know," she murmured, voice drifting off to another era, "the first time I kissed Damon, he just looked into my eyes, unbelieving. He seemed so struck that someone could touch him without violence."

Stefan glared at her. "I'm finding all of this very difficult to believe, Katherine. You are well-versed in the manipulation of human emotion and even better at spinning tales to suit your own needs."

Katherine ignored him, her lip twitching slightly in anger. "I wanted you, Stefan. I still want you. I still love you. But when I saw how starved Damon was for affection, for love...I couldn't let him go. I wanted to give him those things, even though I never felt them on the level I feel with you. I never had to compel him to do anything – though there were times when I only wanted to spend time with you and would have to send him away. He gave me all – I destroyed it. I'm sorry for the consequences of my actions from so long ago."

Stefan was looking at her, seeing, for the first time, the woman he had fallen in love with, before her own selfish need to protect herself had gotten in the way. It was a hard feeling to cope with. It gripped his insides tightly, squeezing relentlessly, cutting off his air supply.

Damon had been mistreated when they were younger. Giuseppe was not a kind man to the elder Salvatore, and as much as Stefan hated to admit it, he had had it easy. Damon took the brunt of force for both of them, had always been protective, loving, and kind.

But he couldn't forget that Katherine had changed all of that.

"You changed him," Stefan repeated his thoughts, eyes lingering hatefully on her. "You made him who he is – vengeful, manipulative, and cold." He hesitated. "And you, Katherine, didn't have to see the look on his face when he realized that you weren't in that tomb. I will never forget it."

"Damon relinquished his innocence for a love I couldn't return. I'm sorry that I can never give that back to him, Stefan. I really am." She wanted to reach out and touch Stefan, to show him that she was telling the truth by her actions, but she knew that it was impossible.

Something heavy settled over Stefan's soul. This conversation was nearly too much for him to take, and the fact that his only brother was out there, going through God-only-knows what made it a thousand times worse.

"But Elena broke the barrier," Katherine said softly. "She rescued him from that dark place, and I'm telling you Stefan, if you help me get out of here, I will help you get him back from that even darker place. My blood is essentially useless to Klaus, but he still wants it. He wants me dead. Use me, Stefan. Lord knows I've used you and Damon enough."

Stefan had sacrificed a lot to get Katherine into that tomb, including Elena's safety. But if she could help him... He swallowed hard, feeling a small flare of trust in his heart. Jesus, what the hell was he thinking? It was crazy.

"Katherine," he said, whispering, leaning as close as he could to her without crossing the line, "I'll let you out. And if you don't keep your word, I will waste no time in driving that stake through your fucking heart like I should have already done."

Katherine nodded, her eyes staying locked with his. "You have my word, Stefan."

Stefan swallowed thickly. "I'll get Bonnie."

He didn't know if she would even agree, but he had to try. And he had to do it before Rose or Elena found out.

Desperation filled Elena as she suddenly set herself in motion; it was as though time had frozen when that strange sequence had occurred. Her ears were still roaring. Klaus, she thought bitterly. Klaus fucking with our minds. It couldn't have been anything else.

She didn't have time to dwell on it, though. Her primary concern lay beside her in a heap. Rose and Stefan appeared beside her instantly, both looking thoroughly disoriented and confused.

Stefan gently touched her cheek. "Elena, are you okay? What happened?"

"Stefan, I'll explain later...but Damon," Elena said, shakily getting to her feet, gripping Stefan's hand as he pulled her upwards.

Rose tried to pull Damon up, but hissed and nearly dropped him as she watched her hands sizzle, burn, and then heal. "Vervain!" she cursed. "Hi shirt is soaked in it." Or what's left of it, she silently added to herself. She set him gently back on the snow-covered ground.

Elena pulled away from Stefan and dropped down beside Damon. She pressed her hand under his back and eased him upwards so that he was sitting. "I'll deal with this for now," she said boldly to Stefan and Rose. "You two make sure nothing's lurking in the shadows, getting ready to attack us. We can't risk you two getting hurt."

Stefan opened his mouth to argue, but thought better of it. The two vampires looked at each other for a moment, and then appeared to form a barrier around Elena and Damon - Stefan standing to the left, and Rose standing to the right. The moon still shone brightly, penetrating the darkness, giving a slight lustre to the falling snow.

"Elena," Damon whispered, saying her name for the second time, "my hands. The ropes are soaked in vervain, too." His voice was rough and ragged, so unlike the low, teasing tones he used in everyday speech.

She quickly untied the knot, letting the ropes fall to the ground. Damon had moved so that he was on his knees, his head down. She gasped when she saw his bruised throat. She reached behind his head and untied the blindfold, letting that fall to the ground, too.

Elena could barely stand to look at him. He didn't lift his head and his eyes were still tightly closed. She could see the outline of tear tracks on his pale face. "My God," she cursed softly, gently touching the dark skin on his neck. She slid her hands carefully beneath his arms to support him. Feeling his cold, damp body pressed against hers sent shivers down her spine. His clothes were soaked in blood and vervain but there didn't appear to be any unhealed injuries on his actual skin, except his wrists, which had just begun to heal from the rope burns.

Damon gripped her. He didn't know what else to do. White hot pain continued to sear through him, burning him alive. He could feel Klaus. He buried his face in Elena's neck, incomprehensible sounds flowing from his dry, cracked lips. He couldn't hold it in.

"Damon, hush. It's okay," Elena's trembling voice told him. She rubbed his nearly bare shoulders, covered in something that could barely pass for his shirt, trying to warm him up. In a situation like this, Elena could have easily fallen apart – but she didn't. Instead, she demonstrated the same courage and levelheadedness that had helped her save Stefan when he had been kidnapped by the tomb vampires.

"He made me kill. I didn't want to, Elena, but he drained me dry over and over again, and then made me feed! Bonnie's going to be angry. He's coming for you – for every one!" The words tumbled out in nearly incomprehensible jumbles as he gripped her forearms, refusing to look up, keeping his head buried in the crook of her neck.

"Damon, it's okay," she told him again, trying to hold him still. God, how could they have let this happen? How easily Klaus had been able to whittle down Damon's defenses, take his dignity. "This is not your fault." She stroked the damp hair away from his face. She couldn't stand it – his pain was unbearable. "Look at me!" she pleaded, their eyes finally meeting.

Tears fell silently down, dripping first onto her forearms, rolling down them and into the cold ground, melting the snow, and then sinking into the earth. He suddenly wasn't making a sound, completely still as he looked at her. His body trembled as he tentatively reached out a hand and touched her face, his lips quivering as he murmured lowly, "You're real."

Elena sighed in relief and placed her hand over his, applying gentle pressure to the back of it. "Yes, I'm real, Damon." She slid her other hand to his neck and touched it. She wasn't going to ask him if he was okay – he clearly wasn't.

And she knew that he wasn't crying in her arms due to physical pain – it was the heaviness of the emotions. Right now, she needed to show him that she cared about him, that she wanted to protect him.

She didn't know what had happened, but she knew one thing for sure: the Damon that she knew – and loved with every trembling piece of her heart and soul – had been left behind somewhere. The broken, weary man in front of her could not be the same person as her Damon.

Her Damon? As if she had the right to call him that, leaving him unprotected, not telling him what happened that night two months ago when they had confessed their love for each other, when they had burned with passion and longing – and when Rose had taken that all away from them with one cold stare of her eyes.

Away from him, anyway.

And Elena couldn't help but feel that if she had only told him that he would have had something to hold on to, something to fight for.

Klaus had damaged his already shattered soul. Elena felt blinding anger then – towards Klaus, towards Rose, towards Stefan, and most of all, herself, for failing to protect him, failing to keep him safe. After all, he had kept her safe more times than she dared to count.

As she touched Damon softly, trying to soothe him – and not caring if the gestures were revealing of her true feelings or not – she looked into those blue eyes of his and knew that something was gone. Because when he looked at her – and he looked at her often – there was always fire dancing behind those eyes.

And now there was nothing but ice.

The awakening, the struggle, and the fury had culminated in this dark reunion during nightfall, and Elena feared, as she stroked the raven hair, that Damon had lost his soul to the midnight shadows forever.