This is it!

This is the chapter that gave birth to You can never be sure.

I have waited for so long to finally write down these events… I can't even begin to describe my excitement now that it is complete!

I need to warn you that this chapter is a hard one to read. I cried while writing most parts of it.

I would like to thank you for all of the alerts, and favorites, and reviews! I always get giddy when I get an email from ff. net!

And to those out there who choose to be silent… just know that you are being extremely rude.

Disclaimer: I don't own TVD, even though I'd love to!

"The war is over."

This is what everyone expects to hear in order to resume living their normal lives, isn't it?

But we must not forget…

In war, there are no unwounded soldiers.

And sometimes, even no unwounded civilians.

Elena abruptly sat up on the bed, her eyes wide open, her hands tightly gripping the white sheets beneath her. Her chest rose and fell rapidly as her breaths came out in short pants, and her gaze moved around the room. She was still at the Boarding House, still in Stefan's bedroom, even though he was nowhere to be seen. A small frown appeared on her forehead as she inspected her form. Gone was the royal blue dress, gone the long trails of blood on her skin, as well. Now she was dressed in a short, way too revealing for her taste black nightgown, and her body had been cleaned. The wounds were still there, of course, along with the discomfort they brought on, but it seemed like Stefan had tried to make her presentable. Why? She cringed as she pictured his hands on her, undressing her.

With a quiet sigh, she brought her legs to the side of the bed, and carefully stood up. She felt…weird. Tired, and in pain, but also strangely energized. Like she had had a good night's sleep. Could she had? Would Stefan had let her? A curious expression crossed her face, as she approached the window and pulled the heavy brown curtains to the side, only to be forced to squint against the sudden burst of sunlight. It was definitely not Saturday night anymore. Probably around noon, or afternoon… of Sunday? Monday? She had absolutely no idea. She had completely lost track of time.

She took a deep breath, bracing herself, and started walking towards the door. Stefan was bound to know she was awake, and he definitely wouldn't be happy over her passing out for at least half a day. And she dreaded to find out how he had chosen to spend his time. Jeremy's and Caroline's pale faces flashed to her mind as she fought back her tears. She had to try again. She had to persuade Stefan to let them walk away unharmed, regardless of what that would mean for her own wellness.

Her heartbeat sped up as she descended the stairs, and the first sounds reached her ears. There was Stefan's voice, murmuring in that dark, detached tone. And every now and then there was a slapping sound, followed by faint whimpers. Things weren't good. They were nowhere near good.

But this mere realization couldn't have prepared her for what she came face to face with when she rounded the corner and entered the living room. The first thing she noticed was that Matt's lifeless body was still hanging from the ceiling, now emitting a not so pleasant odor. Then, that sound came again, and she gasped as she was finally able to locate it. Stefan was standing near her now conscious brother, a heavy and dangerous looking whip nestled in his right hand.

"'Lena, what are you doing here?" Jeremy whispered, clearly struggling to keep his eyes open.

"Aw, Jeremy," Elena cried out, walking closer to the pair.

"Hello, Elena," Stefan greeted her chirpily, accompanying his words with another blow on Jeremy's bare back.

"Stop it, Stefan!" she begged, and he struck again.

"Please, stop it. I will do whatever you want me to do."

"Now we're talking!" Stefan exclaimed excitedly, the torturous tool dropping on the floor, and a sigh of relief falling from her lips.

"Elena, you need to get out of here," Jeremy pleaded with her.

"I can't, Jeremy. We are stuck in here."

"Well, try!"

"She already did try, Jeremy," Stefan intervened "it didn't turn out well for you, did it, Elena?"

"No," she mumbled, her eyes finding Caroline's across the room. There was sympathy in the blonde's gaze, and Elena felt anger rising within her. They shouldn't be feeling sorry for her. She was the reason they were in this place. She was nearly as to blame as Stefan.

"And what is the lesson you learned?"

"That I can't run away. I can't escape you. None of us can," she whispered, her head hanging low, perceiving the full meaning of her admission.

"Bullshit, this is bullshit!" Jeremy barked out, annoyance coloring his voice. "You are not the coward sibling, Elena. That is me. So, stop it. Fight him, fight for yourself, Elena!"

Stefan chuckled as he rounded her brother's body. Her fingers curled inside her palms in fear.

"Such a naïve little boy…" Stefan whispered, a hint of awe in his voice.

"You are a dick!" Jeremy replied slowly, regretting it the next second, when a wild fire started burning in the monster's eyes, and he blurred to stand behind Elena. He wanted him away from his sister. Hell, he wanted him with a stake deep into his heart. But at this point, it seemed like a dream that would never come true. Fuck this situation. How did they find themselves in this mess?

"I am a dick… you know, Jeremy, this little statement of yours makes me want to prove to Elena all those ways I can think of to be a dick," Stefan growled, his arms circling Elena's waist, and roughly rubbing her barely covered centre.

Jeremy's stomach clenched as he watched the scene ahead of him, and the disgusted but resigned expression on his sister's face. He had to fucking do something.

"Then, again… making you have her first would be really interesting, wouldn't it?" he suggested with a sly grin on his blood stained lips, and shoving Elena so hard that she stumbled, and had to steady herself against her brother's injured body. A whimper escaped Jeremy as her fingers slipped inside his fresh back wounds, and she flinched, muttering a sorry, and pulling away from him.

"Come on, Jeremy… you can't tell me that you have never dreamt of this body withering under you... I have to tell you she is quite a screamer… you know what a turn on that is."

"Shut up!" Jeremy said lowly.

"These long legs around your waist, as you thrust deep into her pussy…"

"Seriously?" Caroline's taken aback shrieked echoed in the room, bringing Elena out of her trance.

"No!" she said firmly, taking a step towards Stefan, and shielding the fuming Jeremy's form in the process. "No, you are not going to do this. You can do whatever the hell you want with me, but you have to leave Jer and Caroline out of this."

Caroline swallowed audibly, following Stefan with her eyes. His smile had fallen from his lips, by the time he approached a coffee table that stood at the other side of the room, and picked something up. His playful mood was gone, that much she could tell.

"I find it amusing that you are under the impression this is something you can negotiate your way, through, Elena. No, actually I used to find it amusing. Now it's gotten old and boring. And I don't do old, or boring."

He came at a halt at the centre of the room, eyeing the scared humans around him one after the other. He raised his arm in the air, revealing a knife in his hand, and making sure that the sun reflected on the blade, so that no one would miss it.

"I am going to say something, and I am going to say it once, so listen closely. This, this is my playground. I set the rules, I set the pace. I decide what happens and what doesn't happen. Don't think for a second that your pathetic little cries, or screams are going to change my mind. I like your fear, I like your despair. I feed on them. I will do anything, literally anything, to feel those emotions in the air, to taste them on the edge of my lips, and deep into my veins. You have all had your time to take a breath, thanks to someone momentarily screwing with my plan," he added in a raised voice and staring at the door leading to the basement, where Bonnie and her father were, "but now it's time to play. And since we've had our first course," he pointed at Matt's corpse "now it's time to move onto the main meal." His gaze landed on Caroline, who let out a breathy chuckle.

"That doesn't sound very good for me."

"It sounds perfect for me, though," Stefan interrupted her. "Now," his gaze locked with Elena, his compulsion licking on the outside of her mind "you are going to do as I say."

"I am going to do as you say," Elena repeated, hating herself for doing so. But she couldn't resist. It was like something was pulling at her head, forcing her to believe that this was actually an excellent idea. She felt something being slipped into her palm… the knife, probably, but she couldn't look down to make sure. Stefan's hold onto her mind was too powerful.

"You are going to take this knife and stab Caroline's thigh."

"I am going to stab Caroline's thigh," she robotically repeated, as her eyes filled with tears. He wanted her to hurt her best friend, and if last night had taught her anything, it was that he wouldn't stop at merely hurting Caroline. Stefan would only be satisfied if he got Elena to kill with her own two hands Caroline. She wanted to stop it. She hated her body's actions. But it was pointless. She shifted to face Caroline, and her legs dragged her in her direction.

Caroline swallowed again, the sound reverberating in the eerily silent room, and Elena burst into a round of sobs as her hand raised on its own accord, the sharp point of the blade now aiming at the blonde's dress-covered leg.

"Fuck, no!" Jeremy cried out form the other side of the room "Elena you can't do this! Stop it!"

"I CAN'T!" Elena screamed in frustration, her arm lowering, and the knife cutting through Caroline's flesh. A loud shriek of agony now joined Elena's cries, but Stefan's steady voice was able to cover both.

"Again."

"Bonnie," Maurice called quietly, turning his head to the side in order to focus his brown eyes on his daughter's almost identical ones.

"Daddy! Daddy, how are you? Are you in pain? Do you need me to bring you something?" she asked, standing up from her previous position on the floor and leaning over the older man's lying form.

"Bonnie, what have you done?" he asked as Caroline's screams spread through the massive building. He could hear the pain in the girl's voice, how could Bonnie be so unaffected?

"What are you talking about, dad?" she swallowed "I am doing everything within my power to keep us alive."

"And what about them, sweetheart? Can't you see what they have to go through? Don't you want to help them? They are your friends, Bonnie. They have been by your side forever."

"No, they haven't, dad," she shook her head, her stare fixing on a random spot on the wall. She had never admitted this to anyone, it had always been stored into a private part of her mind. "Caroline has always been so caught up in her sparkly pink world to take anything I ever said to her seriously. And Elena is so used to being the centre of attention, that it's gotten annoying. Not everything is about her. I matter, too. And if they don't believe that, they can't be called my friends."

"What are you trying to do, exactly? Is this some kind of punishment, then? Your way of getting back at them?"

"No, no, that's not it," she replied slowly. "Under different circumstances, I wouldn't have acknowledged the issue, I wouldn't have brought it up. But Stefan practically put me in a position where I had to choose between you and them. And quite honestly, there's not really a decision to make. You are my family. I will always choose you. There is nothing that could change that."

"Baby, I am an old man," Maurice whispered smiling, and gently tracing the side of her face. "I have lived my life. I know that it's painful for you to think about that, but sooner than later we are bound to be separated. This is how life is. And I wouldn't want to keep on living, knowing that it is at the expense of three other, way shorter lives."

"But that is not life, dad, don't you get it?" Bonnie cried out in exasperation, making him wince. "This is not an accident, or an illness. This is a matter of choice. Stefan's choice, and mine. And since it's in my hand, you are not going to die today. I can't carry this in my conscience."

"And do you think that the weight of their deaths on your soul will be easier to carry?" he pressed further, and for the first time there was a burst of sadness in her eyes. Not too much, but enough to reassure him that the sweet, kind girl he had raised was still in there.

"I tried to help, as much as I could without hurting you in the process. I bought Elena some time, and even that was a short call. I did help them, it's not my fault that no one grabbed the chance. If Damon," she spat the name "really wanted to, he had all the time to figure out a way to help them. I tried, okay? I tried."

"Bonnie you are making a mistake," he repeated.

"For choosing to help my father?"

"For misusing your power," he clarified "You are a witch, Bonnie, and it's not something to be taken lightly. With these abilities come certain responsibilities. A witch is supposed to help humans, she is their protector, the one assigned to keep the race going. It's not an easy job. Tough decisions need to be made. And above all else, a witch has to keep her head clear. She can't be blinded by her own emotions. She can't be selfish. She needs to be able to follow the right path."

"The right path is protecting your blood." Why was there not even a hint of doubt in her voice?

"No, Bonnie," he said, desperately struggling to force some sense into her. "The right path is to fulfill your role, to protect the humans. Not to help vampires kill them. There are three innocent people upstairs. Another one is already dead. I am only one, and I am much older than them. You have the power to save them, deep down you know how. Use that power, Bonnie. Do the right thing, make me proud. Save your friends."

Silence filled the small dark room, as father and daughter gazed deeply into each other's eyes. Her head hurt from all the thinking she was doing in that moment, and her heart raced at his pained expression.

She could see that he needed her to believe him, but she couldn't. She wasn't even going to attempt to do so. Before her was the man who had made sacrifice after sacrifice to make sure that she would have the best life possible. If her friends were the sacrifice she would have to make to repay him, then so be it.

"I am very sorry that you can't understand why I am doing this, dad. but this is the right decision."

Maurice's head dropped as he watched his daughter leaving the room. He had failed after all. He hadn't been a good enough father. He thought he had been, but apparently somewhere down the road, he had messed up. Now these kids would die, and their blood would be on his hands.

"You are going to regret this, Bonnie." He whispered in the air, covering his face with his palms. "I just hope that it is not going to be too late when you do."

"How do we know that she will even manage to break through Bonnie's spell?" Damon asked, doubt filling his eyes as he eyed the dark skinned witch, who was hunched over one of her magic cookbooks. Her name was Lacy. Or Lois. He honestly didn't remember. He honestly didn't care. All that mattered was that she was no Bennett witch, and therefore possibly weaker than Stefan's little weapon.

"Because before we came here we went past the Boarding House," she explained calmly, looking not in the slightest offended. "And I got a feel of that witch's spell. The girl has undoubtedly a lot of power within her, but she is young. She hasn't been taught how to properly handle it. She is weak, and so is her spell."

"Did you honestly think that I would come with an impotent witch by my side, Damon?" Katherine asked from across Pearl's living room, and Damon's fingers twitched into his palms. He still couldn't believe that Katherine, Katherine-fucking-Pierce was lounging in a velvet armchair mere meters away from him. Her devilish eyes were narrowed, and she looked much more like a cat than anything else in that moment. Her lips were curled in an ever-lasting smirk, her manicured nails every now and then making contact with the fabric of her pants. She had an advantage over them. They needed her. She knew it. And Damon hated it.

"To be quite honest, I don't know what to expect from you anymore. Because I never thought you would turn out to be a nasty little bitch that would use anyone, including the people she is supposed to care about, to get what she wants."

"Fair enough," she replied with a shrug of her shoulders, and turning her attention to her old friend. "Pearl will you be joining us tonight?"

Pearl had been carefully watching Katherine since she appeared at their house, early that morning. She was trying to understand the reason of her return to Mystic Falls, a place where so many vampires wanted her dead. Could they really trust her? Last time they had done so, she had betrayed them; would she do the same, given the chance?

"I will be there for my daughter, yes," she answered, gripping Anna's hand. "But why are you here, Katherine? What is your link to John Gilbert?"

Said man sifted in his seat uneasily. He wanted to save Jeremy and Elena, and every minute that went by lessened the chances of achieving that. And he would be lying, anyway, if he said that he felt comfortable surrounded by four vampires and a witch.

"My relationship with John is a boring story for another time. What I can tell you, is that I am here to offer my help. In return for something else," she added, standing up, and approaching the bookshelves against the wall.

"And the selfish bitch is back," Damon muttered under his breath, as he sipped his bourbon.

"I do what I do in order to survive, Damon." Katherine clarified surprisingly gently, picking up a copy of Wuthering Heights in her hands "If you want to call it selfishness, go ahead. I call it looking out for me."

"What do you want, Katherine?" Anna intervened. She could resolve her issues with Damon another time, in another place. Not when Jeremy could be dying.

"I want Jonathan Gilbert's invention," Katherine said simply, snapping the book closed.

"Why is it so precious to you?" Damon questioned, his curiosity picked "first you send John into town to search for it, and when he fails you come by yourself? What's so important about it? What does it do?"

"That is none of your business, Damon," Katherine replied sharply "I can help you get into the Boarding House, as long as I get the device. This is the deal. It's nonnegotiable. You either take it, or leave it. So, do we have a deal?" She looked at Pearl. She was the one with the device. She was the one who would make the ultimate decision. Her eyebrow raised as the old friends stared at each other.

"Yes, Katherine, we have a deal. As soon as Jeremy and Elena are back to their home safe and sound, you have my word that the device will be yours." She wasn't entirely persuaded of Katherine's honesty. But she was indeed their only chance. To help Anna take Jeremy Gilbert back, they had to take a leap of faith.

"So, how do we do this?" John asked, relieved that the vampire matters were now out of the way, and they could focus on the actual situation.

"For the love of God, please, stop this!" Caroline begged in an uncharacteristic growl, as Stefan burst out into booming laughter.

"Come on, dude, you have had your fun, you have tortured them enough, now stop this." Jeremy said in an equally exhausted voice, as Elena's body visibly shook. His empty stomach was a mess from everything that had happened during the last hours, and his body hurt more with every passing second. He could barely stand on his feet by this point. And Elena looked like she was in shock. Her moves her jerky, her limbs trembling. But not once did her blows miss their target. Stefan's compulsion had been strong, all the many times he had made her injure Caroline.

Elena was one hundred percent sure she was going crazy. There was no doubt about it. There were two voices arguing in her head, two different, yet almost equally strong, ideas fighting against each other, struggling to win over the other. Droplets of sweat had been forming over her eyebrows during the last minutes, as she kept trying to regain control of herself. Or rather, unsuccessfully attempting to do so. Until now, she had managed to do nothing. Every single time Stefan ordered so, Elena's arm had lowered itself with surprising skill and strength, and the blade had torn through her friend's flesh. She couldn't look into Caroline's eyes. She just couldn't, it hurt too much. But she heard her screams every single time, she felt her body jolting away, she sensed her labored breath against her own skin.

"You are over-thinking this, Elena," Stefan sighed "see how easy it is for me to inflict pain on your brother."

She bit down on her lower lip when the back of his hand met with Jeremy's cheek.

"Now, do the same to Caroline," he ordered in that low voice that left no room for discussion.

"God, please, help me," Elena prayed, doing something she had always believed only crazy people would do. But she was crazy, now, too. So, it didn't really matter. The fingers of her left hand locked around the opposite wrist, pushing the entire arm back towards her stomach. "I can't do this, I don't want to do this. This is Caroline, I can't hurt her," she kept muttering to herself, feeling her head nearly cracking in half from the pressure.

Stefan cocked his head to the side as he quickly approached Elena, with a curious expression on his face.

"You are trying to push me out of your head," he whispered wickedly, watching Elena's tightly closed eyes. "Interesting… let's see… Elena, I want you to punch me as hard as you can."

For a split second Elena froze, both her mind and her body utterly confused. But then Stefan's compulsion sank in, and along with the anger she had been feeling towards him fueled her next action. Her right arm shot out fast, and the sound of her knuckles meeting with his jaw resounded in the room. She couldn't believe the satisfaction that ran through her, it was even stronger than the buzzing sensation the hard blow had brought on her hand.

What Elena couldn't understand, but Stefan was about to take full advantage of, was the fact that she had lost her focus. Her small 'victory' had distracted her, and when Stefan murmured his next order, she didn't even hesitate before carrying it out.

"Now do the same to Caroline."

Caroline's head flicked to the other side from the force, and she groaned in pain.

"Damn, you know how to throw a punch, Elena," she mumbled almost incoherently, as dark spots appeared on her vision.

"Damn it," Elena cursed under her breath, glaring at Stefan, who smiled in response.

"Now that we have made it clear that you are in no position to overcome my compulsion," he said, taking steps backwards until he was comfortably sitting in the sofa, only a few feet away from her "I want you, Elena, to drive that knife through Caroline's heart and kill her."

"No," Elena whimpered, her fingers tightening around the handle, and her teeth locking together as her mental battle began all over again.

"Elena, look at me," Caroline whispered, but she shook her head. If she tried to think about anything else, she would lose control again, she would succumb to the compulsion.

"Elena, I said look at me, please…" the desperation in her tone changed Elena's mind. Her eyes fixed at her, and at the same time her arm started ever so slowly rising.

From his corner, Stefan leaned forward to rest his elbows on his knees, and rubbed his hands together. Jeremy could feel tears pooling in his eyes for the first time after his parents' funeral.

"It's okay, Elena," Caroline said almost inaudibly "this is not your fault, I understand. Just please, get it over with. I can't take it anymore."

"No," Elena cried, her vision blurring, her left hand ineffectively trying to hold back the knife. She couldn't win. She wasn't strong enough, she couldn't…

"Yes, Elena, please. Just do it, and remember I…" Caroline's mouth dropped in a silent scream as Elena pushed the knife though her skin and deep into her flesh.

No one moved.

Elena's eyes were glued on Caroline's terrified ones, as the blonde took deep strained breaths.

"Remember I love you," she eventually whispered with the last energy she had, and letting out a heavy sigh, her head fell on her chest. The world around her dimmed to complete darkness, the sounds drowned until Elena's sorrowful cries were nothing but a distant echo. And then… nothing.

Stefan smiled at the beautiful scene. The magnitude of what Elena had just done was beginning to register, and from what he could tell, she was about to have a full melt down. It was extremely entertaining to witness, and his fangs pushed down his gums impatiently.

Suddenly, the entire house shook violently, unnaturally, threateningly. Stefan leapt out of the sofa, and scanned the room trying to place the source. His eyes narrowed as his vampire senses picked up the scent of his brother, and Anna, and of a blood richer, sweater.

"It's a witch," Bonnie confirmed, as she rushed into the living room, moments before the windows broke loudly, pieces of glass flying everywhere.

"She is trying to bring down the barrier. She is fighting my spell," she explained as the house shook harder.

"And she is damn sure going to succeed," Anna's voice came from the other side of the now non-existent window, her eyes angrily staring at Stefan who instinctively took a step back.

"Anna," Jeremy breathed in relief, and she quickly glanced at him. A small smile formed on her lips, reassuring him that everything would be okay.

In the background, Elena wailed as she sank to the floor, her arms wrapping around Caroline's limp legs, completely oblivious to the chaos taking place around her. She had killed her friend. Her sweet best friend.

"Fight her, Bonnie," Stefan ordered, his hands running through his hair. This was all wrong. This shouldn't be happening.

"Bonnie don't do it," Damon warned, experimentally pushing against the already weakening barrier.

It was his voice and his eyes. The voice and the eyes of the man who was more responsible than anyone else about her grandmother's death, that helped her decide. Her eyelids closed, and words that nobody else could understand started flowing out of her mouth. She was struggling to keep the barrier up.

Stefan looked around panicked. He had to come up with a new plan. If the spell broke, he wouldn't be able to fight both against Anna and Damon. Elena's loud cries grabbed his attention, and before anyone could utter a word, he had picked her up from the ground. Her back was tightly pressed against his chest, and her arms were flailing around as she struggled to get free.

"Stefan, let her go," Damon growled, his heart nearly breaking in two from the anguished sounds coming out of Elena's throat. She looked terrible, and he could only imagine how even worse she felt.

"Tell your witch to stop, or I am snapping her neck," Stefan barked in response, his hands moving to wrap around her neck.

"You are not going to do it," Anna said coldly, and Stefan laughed loudly.

"Wanna bet on that?"

"Just give him what he wants, so that he will let Elena go!" Jeremy begged, his heartbeat skyrocketing.

Damon's eyes flickered to the Bennett witch. She looked pale, and there was blood trickling down her nose. Her back was turned towards Stefan, though, so he didn't know. He didn't know that their witch was overpowering his. He didn't know that Pearl and Katherine were in the backyard, ready to lunge at him the moment the spell broke.

"I am going to count to three. One."

Elena no longer understood what was going on around her. The last thing she remembered was her hand pushing a knife into Caroline's chest. After that everything was hazy. But right then, there was something causing her uneasiness, something blocking her air supply, and she wanted it gone. She wanted it gone, so that she could scream, and cry, and pull at her hair, because she had killed her. So, she kept fighting, she kept fighting against the unknown enemy, even as his hold on her tightened, causing her lungs to burn, and her vision to turn hazy.

"Two," Stefan's face sifted in preparation for what was about to come. His plan was simple. After he broke Elena's neck, he would run from the house. Hopefully, stupid lovesick Anna would stay with her human lover, and only Damon would chase him. But this time, his brother wouldn't be able to toss him around like a sack of potatoes. No. Now he was full of human blood. Pints and pints of human blood. This time, he would be the strong brother. This time he would be the best vampire.

"Three."

"Take your hands off her," a painfully familiar voice called from somewhere around the house, and the next thing he knew, Elena was pulled away from his grasp and he was pushed on the ground face down, so that he couldn't see his captor. He struggled, he hissed, he tightened all the muscles of his body, but to no avail. Whoever held him was way stronger than himself.

Anna was almost as fast as Katherine in realizing that the barrier was down, and in no time at all she was biting at her wrist and offering her powerful blood to Jeremy.

Damon didn't hesitate either, as he ran inside, and with a satisfied smile on his lips blurred to stand in front of Bonnie.

She was paralyzed by fear as the angry vampire glared down at her. She knew that this was it. These were her last seconds. Yet, she didn't regret anything. She only hoped that her father would be fine.

Bonnie's eyes were wide and teary as she looked up at him, and in the blink of an eye, Damon had snapped her neck like a twig, and her dead body was dropping on the ground with a thud that sounded like the finest music to his ears. His gaze then moved to Elena's frenzied form, who was curled in a corner, sobbing, and hugging her body with her arms.

Damon kneeled in front of her, wincing when she pulled away from him. He had never seen her so scared, so lost, so out of it. And he never wanted to again. With a sigh, he looked into her eyes, sending her all the calmness he could, until she stopped crying, and blinked at him confused.

"Elena, can you tell me who I am?" he whispered, and she nodded once.

"You are Damon," she replied in a hoarse voice.

"Okay, Elena, I am here to help you, all right?" she nodded again. "I need to get you home, but I promise I will not hurt you. Okay? Do you trust me to do that?"

"Yes, I trust you," Elena murmured, as the world around her slowly started making sense again.

She scrunched her nose when Damon wrapped his leather jacket around her body, rubbing her still hurting wounds in the process.

"I'm sorry," Damon said apologetically "I will pick you up now." He tried to be as gentle as possible with her injured body. Causing her even more pain was the last thing he wanted.

Elena slowly looked around, taking in Stefan struggling under the hold of two women, a brunette vampire helping Jeremy out of his restraints, and Caroline's and Matt's unmoving bodies. Her heart clenched from the grief, but this time she couldn't find it in her to panic. It was like something was holding her back. So, she did the only other thing she could think of. She gently laid her head against Damon's chest as he walked them out of the Boarding House, and closed her eyes, finally giving in to the exhaustion.

"The war is over."

"We have won."

But have you really won?

Because every war has casualties…

The question is… were the casualties worth the victory?

Will the living find the courage and strength to move on?

Or will the haunting memories of the dead break them in pieces?

Hey, there again… I know you hate me right now, I know you do. I almost hate myself, too. But I had to tell a story, and I never promised it would be an easy or always happy one. Things had to happen this way. I am sorry.

No, actually I am not sorry. :P

Anyway, I am INCREDIBLY conflicted on how to handle YCNBS after this chapter. There are three options:

a) the next chapter is the epilogue, and we will all say bye-bye to these characters.

b) the next chapter is the epilogue, but I write a sequel.

c) the next chapter is simply chapter 9, and I keep on writing.

I don't know what to do. Honestly, when I started writing YCNBS, I was planning to go with option a.

Since then, though, I have come up with a few ideas that will include some of the events of S2 of TVD.

And I have absolutely NO idea if a sequel or more chapters would be better.

If you have an opinion on the matter, do share it with me!

I will try to figure it out over the next days, while I will be working on ch. 9.

You can always follow me on twitter: ts_eirini

Reviews (or is the right term 'comments' now?) are very welcome!

P.S. A huge THANKS goes to Grace4Delena who was kind enough to make some time for me in her busy schedule and pre-read this chapter! Let me tell you that she hates me right now, too! *chuckles* and she was supposed to be my best-friend/soulmate!

BTW, You should all go read her amazing O/S 'Clicking Away From Pain'. I promise it's incredible, so.. show her your love!

Take care, you wonderful people, wherever you are!