Hi everyone! Are you ready for a REAL chapter?
I am dearly sorry for the fact that it is so late, I have been on vacation and I have had no time to update. Bad, I know, bad. But I have just gotten the kindest reviews and I don't want to let anybody down!
Okay, this chapter is going to be Stefan, he is going to get his moment with Katherine out of the way in a flashback, then we are going to have a character show up that has been missing for a rather large chunk in this story, but they have been mentioned.
And I figured out that I will have (including the Authors note) 10 chapters in this story. I know, I know, not a lot, but it's something and that is a guarantee!
I don't own TVD, now lets get to work!
Get yourselves prepared for the brooding forehead, okay? Okay, prepare... and...
READ!
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He had been standing outside the door while it had happened, his vampire hearing allowing himself to perceive what they had been saying, and he didn't like it. Not one bit. They had been using low, intense, passionate voices, and it nearly broke Stefan's heart. They stopped talking for a moment, Stefan fearing the worst, then he heard an unusual breeze open the terrace doors for a moment.
Stefan had a moment of trepidation, doubting Elena's capability to turn away Damon. He dreaded the possibility that Elena had left with him, going back to her house or worse, to theirs. But when he heard a soft, muted sob, he realized that Damon had left her. What had they been doing that left Elena in such a state of agony over rejection? Was it rejection?
He opened the door to see her curled up on the ground, in an almost fetal position, her delicate tears wracking her entire body. It was unbearable to see her like that, so openly and truly dejected at the thought of Damon leaving her, it almost reminded Stefan of... of when he tried to leave her. But, not entirely the same, because then she had an undeniable anger at him thinking he could leave her, whereas now she just... gave up. She lost all hope, all of her spark and energy left with Damon. She looked up at him, shocked, as if she had forgotten he was there, her eyes were void of expression and she returned to looking at the ground, and when soon she looked up at him again, there was guilt clearly displayed on her features. Stefan felt his insides tear apart at her look of desperation, of shame, because she was so close to... to quite literally killing Stefan.
Because for that moment, for that small, singular moment, she had forgotten about him.
And Stefan simply looked at her, staring up at him, making him feel sick inside, when he was sure she felt sick inside, too.
Stefan wanted to kill Damon, rip him to shreds and stick a stake through his heart, but not for hurting Elena. Secretly, Stefan was relieved that Damon had put her in pain, it gave Stefan hope that things could return to normal. That Damon could go back to a 'self serving psychopath with no redeeming qualities' and Elena could hate him for who he was- 'who he is' Stefan internally reminded himself. Damon couldn't change, not for anyone. Not for Stefan or Zack or Caroline, hell, Stefan doubted if he could change for Bonnie who was threatening him with his life, but he knew Damon could change for... for Elena... for his Elena. And that is why Stefan wanted to kill him, because he made Elena doubt who Stefan was certain Elena should be with, and that was him. Stefan was the right one for Elena, not Damon. Stefan was the one who would keep Elena safe, not Damon. Stefan was the smart one, the kind one, the good one, and therefore, the perfect one for Elena.
Stefan shook his head at his ego trip, wondering where this fierceness came from inside of him, he was only protecting what he loved.
But when Elena began to speak, her voice so cold and broken, he couldn't stand to imagine what they had done. Then, Stefan realized, he shouldn't care. He should acknowledge the fact that he is what he is, and no one can change that. Maybe, just maybe, Stefan had to allow Elena to make the choice...
The right one or the wrong one.
Elena was never quite sure which was which, now was she?
"Stop," Stefan softly interrupted Elena's nervous rambling, "I... I know" he then allowed her to stand up and crash into his arms then, weeping madly into his chest.
"I am so sorry, Stefan, nothing happened, but..." Elena rambled, trailing off at the end.
"But you wish it would've," Stefan finished wretchedly. Elena's brown, unbelievably wet eyes returned to Stefans, and she searched for something in them, searched for anything... and she couldn't find it.
Stefan stepped back from her then, his heart being torn apart in his chest for what he was about to do, "and now you have to... you have to find him, Elena" Stefan whispered, completely and utterly heart-broken. She looked at him incredulously, almost scared.
"What?" she breathed, it coming out as more of a gasp than a question, "what... what do you mean?"
Stefan shook his head, not allowing her loss for words affect him anymore, his decision to let her do this wouldn't waver anymore, "you have to..." the words felt like bile in Stefans mouth as he spoke them, "discover your feelings for Damon. That's the only way we'll be together, is if you know for certain that it's me who you want" he finished slowly, being torn apart by the truth of the words. Elena wouldn't be Katherine, Stefan would be damned if he let her.
She looked at him, unbelieving and sorrowful, and it nearly destroyed him that he couldn't wrap his arms around her again and hold her. Her gaze soon wandered around the room and she wrapped her arms around herself for security, then she silently nodded. It shouldn't have felt like a stake through his heart that she agreed with coming to terms with her feelings, but it did, and he couldn't make the pain stop. She grabbed the boxes laid down on the bad, then he saw some of her flame reignite in her as she walked to the wardrobe. She flung the door opened and sniffled, the pushed all of Damon's clothes out of the way. She reached into the back of the closet, and pulled out his... confederacy uniform? He shook it off, and then saw her hand linger on a loose thread in the fabric, staring down at it longingly. She grabbed the boxes, tilted her chin, and walked towards the door. She tried to move around him then, that was until his arm gently grabbed hold of hers. He hadn't meant to do it, but he did, and when she lifted her head up to his to ask why, he never allowed her to finish.
Stefan cut her off with his lips, crashing down on hers madly, trying desperately to make her feel the passion he thought he would feel... She kissed back, at first chastely and cautiously, then equally as eagerly, trying to make herself feel too. She dropped the boxes, and her hands ran through his hair, she moved in sync with him, but it just wasn't the same anymore, because Stefan could quite literally taste the doubt in her, the pain... a pain that he could never stop when he was with her. She pulled herself closer, tears flowing down both their faces, and Stefans arms wrapped, if possible, even tighter around her. He wanted to show her, show her how it could be.
But then, she pulled away for air, but it sounded more like a sob than a gasp, and Stefan knew he was just hurting her more by allowing her to kiss him. So he didn't continue, but laid his extremely large hands on her face, and whispered, "this is how it could be, and I thought you should know that... I will always love you, Elena. Always. No matter who you choose." He pressed his lips lightly to hers again, but it was quick and chaste, and he pulled away almost immediately. She then smiled a small, broken smile, and pulled away. He handed her the car keys wordlessly, then she left. He knew that she had felt nothing while kissing him, but that wasn't what saddened Stefan so deeply.
It was that he didn't either.
Stefan shut his eyes then, allowing himself to plunge into his latest memories of a woman, selfish, cruel, but the only woman to revive a spark in him...
"Oh, Katherine," Stefan murmured, allowing the tears he had held back to overflow then, her image flooding his mind...
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Elena had asked Damon to leave... Stefan felt victory overcome him then, feeling triumphant in the fact that she had felt only platonic feelings towards him. She looked at him then, and something awakened in Stefan, something that had been resting for over a hundred years.
He felt himself turn nauseous, his stomach churning at the thought. Elena was somewhere... it wasn't here... this wasn't Elena... he wouldn't allow himself to scowl at her, her idiotic, overly-dramatic wide-eyed look making Stefan sick to his stomach. No, this wasn't Elena.
She fell into his arms then, wordlessly, almost exactly like the night Isobel had left. 'Maybe this is Elena...' Stefan thought idly. He then realized, to his dismay, that it wasn't, 'no, Elena wouldn't have sent Damon away' Stefan swallowed hard, it was an undeniable candor that made Stefan queasy.
She then leaned into his ear, "just what I needed..." she whispered, with an edge of playfulness, vengeance, and seductiveness. She leaned back, then, looked into his eyes, and leaned in... and for the smallest of moments, Stefan leaned in, too...
But he then took that opportunity to choke her into a wall, "Katherine." he spat, their noses inches away from each other. She then smiled angelically, and Stefan realized he was having no effect on her. He slammed her into another wall, then another, then another, until it looked as if she was in serious pain. Stefan allowed himself to do a near deadly thing.
He slightly loosened his grip.
Katherine's smile returned, then, and before it registered to Stefan that she was faking the pain, she slammed his head against the wall hard, which caused him to black out...
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He had awoken again in a fright, realizing that he was again in his room at the Salvatore manor. He wondered instantly if it had all been a dream, if Damon had gotten into his thoughts once again. He then felt the small, healed bump on his head, and found daylight outside. He ran downstairs to find Damon, and he found Damon standing with the utmost expression of... fear, honest to god fear, written on his face.
The unconscious, not yet dead body of Bonnie Bennett was laying in a disturbing heap on the ground. Damon stood there, and looked over to Stefan. He handed him a note that was found on top of Bonnie's body, "it's for you" he whispered brokenly, he then uttered something like "It always is..."
Stefan read the note, which said, 'Dearest Stefan, if you don't want Elena, John, and Jeremy to end up in the nearly fatal state like your poor friend, or worse, then meet me where we first met, Lover. ~K'
Stefan looked up, panicked, at Damon, and Damon's eyes held a fierce protection and hurt that was impossible to hide, "They have Elena" Damon nearly yelled. Stefan was shocked at his behavior, but he re-read the note countless times. Damon looked to him, then uttered, "Go, I'll find the Gilberts, you take Bonnie home, but just go"
Stefan needed no more persuasion than that, because in the smallest of moments he was pulling Bonnie's body close to his and ran her back to her house. Realizing he had never been invited in, he laid Bonnie carefully on the swing on the porch. Once he was laid her down and knocked at the door, he began running to the old Salvatore manor as quick as his vampire speed would allow him. He reached the woods in minutes, finding Katherine there, standing seductively near two candles.
"They're nice, aren't they?" She spoke enthusiastically motioning towards the candles, "they set the mood" she mocked.
"Katherine" Stefan greeted stiffly, formally.
"Is that all you can say?" she wondered, "Every greeting is 'Katherine', why not say hello for a change?" She walked closer to him, a smile tugging at her lips, and as she continued to come closer she asked, "Do you want to play with me?"
Stefan would not be moved by her behavior, keep the calm, cool, un-wavered facade, "How can I play if I don't know the rules?"
She looked at him strangely then, sincerity leaking into her voice for the smallest of moments, she looked like... she missed him. Stefan swallowed hard then, as she whispered, "no rules, Stefan"
Was he supposed to love the way she said his name?
"why are you here, Katherine?" Stefan murmured, uncomfortable.
"you don't know..." she murmured, a finger trailing up his chest. Stefan pushed it away automatically, not liking the way Katherine's touch affected him, and she continued, un-wavered, "I came back for you."
Stefan sarcastically scoffed then turned to the woods for a moment, gathering his thoughts. He turned to her again and spoke the next words as venomously as possible, enunciating every sound, "the problem is, Katherine, that I hate you"
Katherine's eyes showed the smallest flicker of agony, but it was covered soon, and replaced with a burning anger, "You hate me huh? Well that sounds like the beginning of a love story, Stefan, not the end of one" she spat, trying to keep her cool.
"This has to be the end, Katherine, it's time for you to leave now. I'm not going with you." Stefan said as stiffly as possible, trying to resist the urge to run away with her.
"Oh, the end, Stefan? You want the end?" She grabbed a rather large branch and shoved it into his stomach.
The most bloodcurdling scream was heard from Stefan, agony chilling him to his core, paralyzing him. He looked down then, shocked at what he discovered.
"You missed" he said through gritted teeth, realizing she had only stabbed him in the gut, nowhere near fatal.
"Next time I won't" Katherine spat, hardly being affected by his state of anguish. With a rush of air, Katherine was gone...
Stefan collapsed on the ground then, the world seeming to collapse around him.
"Cenere, cenere, tutti cadono giù ..." he whispered...
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"Bonnie, you have to help us"
"No way in hell"
That was the way almost every conversation with Bonnie had began lately.
"My father finds me passed out, on the porch, and I have to find an excuse for a whacked out, bitchy vampire attacking me in my own house? Why would I ever help you, this is all your fault!" Bonnie spat, Damon finding the energy to roll his eyes. Stefan almost welcomed the movement, Damon had been very stressed and depressed lately and it was all because of his concern for Elena.
"Listen, witch, I-" Damon began being cut off by Stefan.
"Katherine has Elena" Stefan choked out, the words making him and Damon flinch. Bonnie gasped lightly which made Stefan close his eyes, "please, Bonnie. Damon brought her home from being kidnapped, and brought her back to the boarding house. Since the house is only occupied by vampires, vampires don't have to be invited in. We forgot that fact and... and Katherine got her. It's getting late and we don't have much time."
Bonnie was gone in a second, leaving the door open, and grabbing one of her grandmother's much older books from the library, "I won't invite you in," Bonnie began, "But I'll do this outside. On the porch." Bonnie walked out then, and turned to face the Salvatores, "which one of you was in contact with Elena last?" Bonnie asked skeptically, knowing she could never be too sure.
"It was-" Stefan whispered
"me." Damon finished, recalling being so close to her that night, speaking so softly when laying her upstairs in Stefan's room. The last time anyone had seen her.
Bonnie simply nodded, not phased by it, then instructed him to lay out his hands. Usually Stefan would expect some kind of sarcastic remark, a disgusted, half-bored groan, maybe. But Damon only lightly flinched laying his hands out as Bonnie laid hers lightly on top of his, almost hovering.
It was for Elena, after all. And that was the only thing that brought Damon through it.
Bonnie began saying something unidentifiable in an almost Latin sounding language, speaking so deeply and her voice turning otherworldly, almost demonic. She opened her eyes then, taking in her surroundings before she sobbed, "in the woods outside of the cemetery... almost dead"
Stefan and Damon ran to the car, then, pressing the gas pedal down as far as it would go. They raced to the cemetery, and when they reached it, found Elena almost lifeless, and Katherine ready to attack. The pure, molten rage swelled through Damon, and he attacked impulsively, throwing Katherine into a tree.
All Stefan could do was run to Elena...
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Stefan then let out a cry of rage, grabbing the thing closest to him and throwing it against the creme wall. When he heard the glass shatter and a frame break, he realized what he had thrown.
Isabella Salvatore lay broken on the floor, in eternal, sorrowful ignominy. Somehow, though, Stefan didn't feel much remorse. He picked up the picture and laid it on Damon's bed, then running to his bedside end table and flipping it, fracturing a lamp and then throwing the rest of the wood at the opposite wall, it making a deafening crack against it. The destruction he was making was almost therapeutic, helping him relieve the anger that had slowly risen to the surface. He continued to destroy, then, throwing Damon's wardrobe on the floor, using a large chunk of wood to crush the fireplace.
Stefan, after much demolition, looked around the ruins of the once beautiful bedroom. He began to desperately try to pick up the pieces of the room, trying to reorganize it.
"Whoa, it looks like Haiti in here, man" said a rather laid back voice from the terrace.
Stefan looked up, and found the recently deceased Jeremy Gilbert. He stood, lounging on the railing, watching Stefan's little scene. Stefan's voice was shaking from the anger, but also the fact that Jeremy had been missing for days ever since Damon had saved Elena, "Jeremy..."
"Hulk..." Jeremy mocked, a smile lighting his features.
"Where have you been? Elena's been looking for you ever since you left-"
"Ugh, in town for an hour only and I'm already hammered with questions?" Jeremy interrupted, his attitude unusually bright.
"You fed" Stefan murmured.
"Well I had to, but I didn't kill them, just compelled them to make them forget and go home... okay, okay, I killed a couple people, but they were old, outside of this town, living in there own little bubble..." Jeremy shrugged, "now if you want me to help me clean this mess you're gonna have to invite me in"
Stefan pondered it for a moment, then clutched the wooden piece of the wardrobe tighter in his grasp, "if you try anything, remember that I'm older than you and could kill you any second" Stefan reminded him.
Jeremy groaned, "Ugh, fine, okay, I'm just trying to help!"
"Come in, Jeremy" Stefan receded further into the house almost as if to physically allow him in. Jeremy walked in, then surprisingly went right to work at cleaning.
"Listen," Jeremy began, "I obviously can't go back home, me being gone for so long would raise suspicion, and the fact that I won't get any older... So I say we write a letter to Jenna, saying that me and John were found dead in some warehouse, and our bodies were burned along with the building. We'll burn a warehouse on the outskirts of some random town I found. No one could investigate if we compel them not to, the case would be left alone. Jenna would have to accept that and move on, and then... then we move on"
Stefan looked at Jeremy incredulously, "well you seem to have everything figured out..."
"Of course," Jeremy mumbled, "there's no other way, but I have a question..."
"yes?" Stefan wondered, fearing what the question would actually be.
"I... I need a place to stay, and I was wondering if I could stay here..." Jeremy asked, trepidation leaking through his tone.
Stefan shook his head and groaned, "I already signed some papers... this house, it's going to be given to the town... is that why you came here?"
"Well of course," Jeremy concluded, "and thats no big deal, can I stay at the boarding house?"
"Jeremy, be honest with me, how many people did you kill?" Stefan inquired.
"Um..." Jeremy seemed to tick the dead bodies off on his fingers, "I don't know, man! And I don't care! I just-"
"Have you been able to come close to a human and not feed on them" Stefan pushed again, wanting a true answer.
Jeremy looked at him then, and tears suddenly welled up in his eyes. He began to sob, then, and Stefan watched his internal struggle, "I don't want to be a monster, Stefan, I want you to help me... please" Jeremy begged.
Stefan looked at him, and suddenly saw himself, newly turned and torturing himself for what he had done to countless people. Jeremy lifted his tormented eyes back to Stefan's, and begged silently, "Okay," Stefan caved, "Okay. But you have to stay in the basement, and I'm starting you on blood bank blood. Can you handle this life, Jeremy?"
"I really hope so" Jeremy muttered, "So should we go back to your house-"
"No!" Stefan nearly yelled, startling Jeremy, but Stefan wouldn't tell Jeremy about letting Elena run into Damon's arms, "I mean, uh, we have to keep cleaning, make this place look decent for the town..."
Jeremy looked at Stefan strangely, then patted his back softly, "Okay, man, whatever you say" he murmured.
Stefan looked down at Jeremy, then gathered a shaky breath.
"Lets get to work" He mumbled.
Okay, you guys, next chapter isn't the Damon and Elena meet (sorry) but Bonnie, because she has a story to tell, too. And trust me, it will have plenty of DE stuff.
And what Stefan said in Italian was, "Ashes, ashes, we all fall down" he was kind of referring to the church and the fire in 1864, and how that almost marked the beginning of his tortured existence.
I hope this chapter wasn't too disappointing, I have been working countless nights on it, pouring my heart and soul into it. As someone who loves someone who doesn't love them back, it was easy to empathize with Stefan. Was he in character? i didn't want him to start getting all weird and angry all of the sudden, but the spoilers for season two say that he and Damon almost switch places a little... YAY! So I'm trying to keep the spoilers and the fan fiction close, so it isn't too much of a stretch.
And the ending I finally figured out, you guys, and you will LOVE IT. I think it is some of my best work in AGES.
Okay, here is my question for YOU. If you were Stefan, what would you have done if you knew Elena loved your brother? Would you have let her go and make the decision, or kept her with you in denial of her true feelings? (ps, the kiss between Stefan and Elena KILLED me to write, but the truth of the matter is that Stefan still loves Elena, and she loves him too.
I truly and sincerely hope you enjoyed this chapter as much as I did!
Sheesh ya'll twas a dream!
~Taylor 3