Damon Salvatore was typically not the person you went to with your problems- in fact, for much of his existence, he was your problem. That is, until he killed you.

But somehow, somewhere along the way, Elena Gilbert had found a confidant in him. She trusted him, and he'd always trusted her, even before he'd been willing to admit it. Something about the way she looked at him…even when she was hating him, she never managed to bring it out in her eyes. Her eyes gave it all away.

But now her eyes were blank; seeing, but unseeing. Elena hadn't moved or spoken, or acknowledged that she must be starving and freezing, in over an hour. And Damon didn't know what to do about it.

She'd helped him see things, helped him rediscover bits of himself, of his humanity, without even trying. She was the reason he'd learned to give a damn. And now, all he wanted to do was help her- and he had no idea how.

She hadn't even flinched when he'd put his head to her chest, to make sure she was breathing properly. But that wasn't the most surprising part.

Damon had assumed that upon his saintly brother's arrival, Elena would have snapped out of it, and ran crying into his arms. But not a single tear has fallen down her face, not a single glance at Stefan had she allowed herself. He was starting to wonder if she was even still in there.

He watched as Stefan approached her sitting form, placing his hands on her shoulders. Damon stood a few feet away, praying that Elena would respond, even just a little bit. A twitch, or a word. Anything.

"Elena?" Stefan asked, his grip on her shoulders tightening. "Elena. I know you've been through a lot tonight But we can deal with this. Together. Like we always have. Don't give up on me, Elena. Elena, can you hear me?"

Stefan was pleading with her. Pleading with a girl who cannot hear him, Damon thought.

Damon took a sep forward. "Stefan."

Stefan turned to look at him.

Damon had been about to say, that they should just pick her up and take her inside. But Stefan interrupted him.

"Have you tried?"

Damon's eyebrow shot up in confusion. "Tried what?"

Stefan made a small noise of irritation. Concern for Elena was shortening his temper.

"Tried to get her to snap out of it. You're the one who found her in the kitchen, right? Maybe she'll remember."

Damon felt beyond bewildered as his brother stepped aside, motioning fro him to stand in front of Elena. He took a step forward, and crouched down so that he was eye level with her.

"Elena. You need to go inside. It's all over now. You can go inside now, it's over."

Elena stayed silent. Damon was about to stand, but all of a sudden Elena's right hand shot out, grabbing his forearm, keeping him in place. He looked back at her.

She was looking at him now, her soft brown eyes big and wet with tears that were finally surfacing.

"It will never. Be. Over."

Her voice wasn't like anything Damon had ever heard before. It held entirely too much pain for it to be the girl he loved, and yet, here she was, saying the words.

"She's gone, Elena. No one's going to hurt you," Damon said, enunciating carefully.

Elena continued staring, her eyes becoming colder with each passing second.

"Of course not. Because there's nothing left to hurt me with."

Elena abruptly stood up, not giving Damon a chance to respond. In truth, he wasn't sure how to respond. Elena began walking into her house, but Stefan followed her, with Damon close behind. Before she could get any further up the stairs Stefan began to speak, placing a hand on her arm.

"Elena, it'll be oka-"

"Don't touch me!" Elena screamed violently, wrenching her arm away from Stefan's touch. Stefan's face automatically fell, flinching from her outburst. It was so unlike Elena- and she was just getting started.

"And don't tell me it will be okay. Because none of this, is okay. All the people who died tonight, will not be okay. My brother, will not be okay. My life is not okay. And you know what?" Elena spat, the tears finally spilling onto her cheeks.

Her fury had caused both Salvatores to back up. For once, Damon was actually trying to make himself unobtrusive, as he watched a side of Elena he has never seen in horrified fascination.

"It's all because of you two. You brought this here. With every lie, with every death." Elena paused to look at them, her face a crumbled mask of pain and accusation. But neither brother tried to deny her claims.

"If either of you actually gave a damn about me, you would have left before you ever met me."

And with that, Elena continued up the stairs, leaving the two dejected vampires in her wake.