I know it's been a while, but I've been super busy with university, sorry! Anyway, hope you like it x
Elena stepped back into the shadows, covering her face, as an elderly couple walked past her. She was across the road from her parents' house, waiting for them to come home. Damon had been in jail for one week exactly, and it had also been one week since she had last been on this street. She looked at the spot where he had been taken from her, where her child had been taken from her, and wiped away a tear. Every time she had considered coming back here, the painful memories had stopped her. Instead, she had been staying at Damon's house, with Stefan. The smell of him surrounded her there, comforting her.
With Barrow and Stefan, they had formed a plan to free Damon. His trial hadn't been going well, and no one had believed his claims of self-defence, as they had expected. Breaking him out seemed to be the only option left. She hadn't been allowed to see Damon though, so he was completely unaware of the plan. She hoped he didn't think they'd forgotten about him. We're coming for you, Damon, she thought to herself.
The sight of her parents broke her out of her thoughts, and she watched as they hurried along the street, ducking their heads down and trying to avoid attention. However it was of no use.
"Why don't you go live with your traitor daughter?" She heard someone call out to them, though she couldn't see the source.
"Scum like them shouldn't be allowed to live on this street."
"Yes, maybe they'd be more comfortable on the other side of town?"
She saw a group of girls giggle, as they threw the insults at her parents, and her mother wiped away tears as they almost ran into their house. Elena felt the fury boil within her. How could they treat them like that? They hadn't done anything! They had been completely unaware of her actions. She wanted more than anything to run to her parents, to comfort them, to protect them. But she was unable to do anything, say anything to help them. Their reputation had been tarnished, and it was completely her fault. She turned helplessly, and walked back towards Damon's home. Her home.
As she passed through the market, she saw a small group gathering around a young news agent standing on a box. There were excited murmurs, and curious, Elena moved closer.
"At 11 this morning, it was announced that the traitor, Damon Salvatore, was found guilty of the murder of Lord Klaus Mikaelson. He will be hung tomorrow in the town square, at midday. Everyone is invited to come watch this spectacle!"
Elena felt as if the breath had been knocked out of her, as people hollered and cheered around her. Ducking her head low, she ran down the alleys, bursting through the front door of Damon's house, breathing hard.
Stefan and Barrow were standing in the living room, engaged in a heated conversation. They looked up as she entered.
"Did you hear? They're going to hang him! Stefan! They're going to hang him!" She gasped out, feeling like her world was falling apart.
Stefan nodded grimly. "I heard. But they are not going to even touch him. Elena, did you hear me? We're not going to let them."
Elena tried to take in his words, forcing her heart to slow down. Stefan gripped her shoulders, trying to help calm her down.
"We're going to get out of this town tonight. With Damon. Ok?" He said, his green eyes ablaze with determination.
"No, not ok!" Barrow cut in, looking stressed.
She pushed her paralysing fear for Damon's safety to the back of her mind, and tried to concentrate on the current situation.
"What's the problem?" She asked, turning to face Barrow.
"I'm not on duty tonight. I'm on duty on Monday, as that's when we had discussed to carry out the plan!"
Elena tried not to let her tension rise, as she looked back towards Stefan.
"Can't you swap with someone?" Stefan asked, trying to think rationally.
"No! I swapped to get Monday, remember? I can't swap again! It'll look suspicous!"
Elena went to Barrow, taking his hands in hers.
"I am so sorry to do this to you. Especially after you built a life for yourself. I realise what this will do to your career, but I will give you the money to start a new career somewhere else. Please. He's my everything. I can't watch him die." Elena looked pleadingly into his eyes. All her hopes rested with this man.
"Miss Gilbert, the only reason I have a career is because of you. I tried to rob you, I deserved nothing from you apart from contempt. You should have thrown me in jail. But instead you saved me, saved my family. I would do anything for you. I may not be able to get on duty tonight, but we will get Damon out of there."
Barrow squeezed her hands, comfortingly, and Elena allowed herself to feel a tiny flicker of hope.
(*)
Damon leaned back against the cold, damp wall of his prison, and closed his eyes. He had been in there exactly seven days, and there had been only one person on his mind the entire time. He hadn't been allowed any visitors since his trial started, and therefore he had been unable to see Elena, and it was killing him. He wanted so badly to be there for her, after the loss of her child, and instead he was stuck here in this awful cell.
He kicked the wall in anger, and then immediately regretted it as pain shot through his foot.
"There's no point." A low voice called out from the darkness.
Damon looked into the cell next to his, where a young man was lounging on the floor, watching him with a look of amusement.
"No point in what?" He asked, warily.
"Getting angry. It won't help." The man said, and Damon saw the flash of his white teeth as he grinned.
"Enzo." He added, getting up and sticking his hand through the bars. Up closer, Damon could see Enzo had jet-black hair, and dark eyes. His light olive skin seemed to glow in the dim light of the prison.
Damon shook it. "Damon Salvatore."
Enzo grinned again, returning to his position on the floor. "I know. Everyone in this town has heard of you. You killed the lord."
Damon ignored the bitter taste in his mouth, and nodded. He could detect a trace of admiration in Enzo's voice.
"What did you do?"
"Nothing as impressive. Stole some jewelerry. Nowhere near on the same level as murdering a lord. Good for you. It's time people started standing up to those self-righteous, selfish upper-class folk. How is it fair that we live in a world where hald the town is starving to death, and the other half are drowning in riches?"
"It wasn't like that." Damon replied, ignoring Enzo's question. "I didn't murder him."
"Right, the girl. I heard about that. How the hell did you manage to pull that off? Get one of them to fall in love with you? I mean, I'm no slouch when it comes to the ladies, but still, I'm impressed." Enzo commented, a trace of arrogance in his smooth voice. "You messed up though, by trying to run. You should have got as much as you could out of her, then ditched."
Damon forced his fists to stay by his side. It wasn't Enzo's fault, he didn't know Elena. A few years ago, Damon would have probably been saying the same things.
"I wasn't with her for the money. I love her." He replied, his voice low.
Enzo tilted his head to the side, his eyes alight with curiousity.
"You're actually serious…but how? I mean, she's one of them. And you're one of us."
"She's different. She's not like the rest of them."
Enzo chuckled, humourlessly. "They're all the same. Maybe she tries to be different, maybe she even wants to. But it's not her fault, it's her upbringing. Anyone who's lived like she has, who's been brought up amonst the kind of riches she has, has no chance of being different. It's in their blood."
Damon detected a strong bitterness in his voice, as Enzo leaned his head back against the wall.
"It's not in hers." Damon replied, not having the energy to argue. Enzo must have sensed his seriousness, because he didn't say anything for a few minutes.
"When are you going?" Enzo eventually asked, sensibly changing the subject.
Damon knew instantly what he was asking about. His hanging. It hadn't even really registered with him. He didn't care what happened to him. All he cared about was what would happen to Elena.
"Tomorrow. Midday."
Enzo looked up. "You're not going to go down with a fight?"
"Damon Salvatore always goes down with a fight."
Enzo shot him a grin, which he returned. He opened his mouth to say something else, when loud footsteps were heard hurrying down the stairs. The guard, who was on duty, stood up, looking wary.
"Who goes there?" He called out, holding up the lantern into the darkness.
Damon watched as another policeman entered the prison area. He looked over at Damon for a few seconds, and then looked back at the guard.
"The prisoner is being moved. I need to take him to the Davison Street cells." The policeman said, as the guard frowned.
"Why? He's being hung tomorrow. What's the point in moving him?"
"Davison is empty at the moment, and it's closer to the town square, where the hanging is going to take place. Makes more sense for him to be there. Then we can shut this prison down for the night, no prisoners means there's no need for you to be here. You can have the night off." The policeman answered, and Damon saw the guard grin at the prospect of a night off work.
"Yes, Barrow. You know, I always liked you." The guard said, winking, and patting the other man on the back. He took out the keys and walked over to Damon, whistling happily.
"Good thing Davison is empty though, this way, you can take both of them." The guard called out, as he started unlocking Damon's cell.
Damon saw a look of worry pass over the policeman's face. "Both of them?" He asked, sounding confused.
"Oh yeah, I thought they would have told you? New one came in today. Caught stealing Lady Gardener's jewels." The guard said, nodding over to Enzo's cell, as Damon's cell door swung open.
As the guard snapped shut the handcuffs around his wrists, he caught Enzo's eye. Enzo shrugged, looking equally confused.
Damon looked back over to the policeman, who was now looking even more tense.
"Well, I'm not sure Davison is empty actually. I know they have the one cell for the murderer, but maybe the other one is better off staying here." He said, and Damon could tell he was scrambling for an excuse. What was going on?
The guard laughed, as he moved on to unlocking Enzo's cell. "Nice try, but you promised me the night off, and I'm gonna get it. Davison is empty 90% of the time anyway, but I can call over if you're not sure."
The other policeman shook his head hurriedly. "No no, you're right, of course. I'll take them both."
He caught Damon's eye, and Damon couldn't shake the feeling he'd seen this man somewhere else before. With the handcuffs secure on both the prisoners, the guard tossed the keys to the policeman.
"Night, Barrow. See you tomorrow."
Barrow nodded, taking out his baton. "Up the stairs, you two."
(*)
Elena waited in the shadows, a few streets away from the police station. Her heart was pounding in fear.
"This was a terrible plan!" She said, turning to Stefan, who was leaning against the wall next to her. "There are so many things that could go wrong! What if the guard on duty doesn't believe Barrow? What if he calls someone else to check? Or what if he decides to go with Barrow? What if they've already moved Damon somewhere else?" She said, her mind whirring with endless scenarios in which something went wrong.
"Elena, listen to me. Nothing is going to go wrong." Stefan said to her, his voice calm as always.
"How do you know?"
Stefan took her hand, squeezing it gently.
"Elena, your love for Damon, and his for you, is stronger than anything I've ever seen before. If you can't have faith in me or Barrow, have faith in your love. There were plenty of reasons for your love to falter, but it didn't. It came through, stronger than ever. I've seen couples break at obstacles far smaller than what you and Damon have faced. Trust me." He said softly, and Elena saw a sorrow in his green eyes that she had never seen before.
"Stefan, what happe-?" She started, but the sound of footsteps interrupted her.
She cautiously looked around the corner, and then burst into the street, running towards him.
"Damon!" She threw herself into him, causing him to stumble back slightly, but he quickly regained his balance. His hands were cuffed, so he couldn't return the hug, but he buried his face into her hair, breathing in deeply. He had missed her so much.
They stayed like that for a few moments, until Barrow discretely coughed, clearing his thoat. With great reluctance, Elena tore herself away from him, and looked over at Barrow. That was when she noticed for the first time, there was someone else standing beside him.
"Who's this?" She asked suspiciously, looking at the dark-haired stranger who was watching her amusedly.
"Elena Gilbert, I presume? Enzo. I would kiss your hand, but as you can see, I'm currently unable to."
He held up his handcuffed wrists, smiling ruefully. Elena ignored him, and turned back to Damon.
"What happened?" She asked, when nobody answered her first question.
"He was in the prison with Damon. I had to get him too, otherwise it wouldn't have worked." Barrow answered eventually, looked ashamed with himself.
"Well, what are we going to do with him?" Stefan asked, having finally reached them.
"Here's a suggestion. You could undo these." Enzo cut in, nodding down at his cuffs. "And then I'll be on my way and we can forget this whole thing."
"No. We should take him back. He must have been in prison for a reason, we can't just free a random criminal." Elena said, frowning.
Enzo chuckled. "Of course. To your kind of people, all of us are criminals. Prison is where we belong, right?"
Elena glared at him. She wasn't used to this kind of rudeness from complete strangers.
"Excuse me? What are you trying to say?" She said, crossing her arms.
"Just that you immediately jumped to the conclusion that I was guilty of something, and therefore I belonged in jail. You upper class people are all the same. You look down on us, no, you don't even acknowledge we exist. Without even knowing me, or asking me about my story, you just decided that I needed to go back. " Enzo said, and Elena detected a strong resentment towards herself.
"Well you were in prison. Excuse me for thinking that meant you were guilty of something."
"Ah. Of course. That makes sense. I mean, it's not like your dear Damon wasn't rotting in the cell right next to me. No, he's clearly come right from a grand ball." Enzo shot back, and Elena mentally hit herself. She had walked right into that.
"Enough." Damon said sharply, cutting into their argument. "Enzo can do what he wants. But I'm going back to jail."
Elena looked up, in horror. She couldn't understand what he was saying. They'd gone to all the effort of breaking him out, and he wanted to go back?
He saw her look of confusion, and took her hands. "Elena, I love you. And I'm so grateful to you, to all of you, for helping me. But I can't run. Damon Salvatore runs from no one. Amidst all these malicous rumours, running would only confirm my guilt to the townspeople. And I don't want that. I don't want murder to be the legacy the Salvatores leave in this town. And do you want that to be the legacy that you leave? Do you want your parents to live here, with people thinking their daughter ran away with a murderer?"
Elena thought back to seeing the insults her parents had faced that morning, and knew in her heart that he was right. She didn't want that.
"Then what do you want to do?" She asked softly, looking into his mesmerising blue eyes.
"I want to clear my name. And if I can't do that, I want the town to know that Damon Salvatore didn't run from his fate."
Elena failed to keep the tears spilling. "I can't watch be the reason you die." She whispered. Even the mere thought of it caused a pain so sharp, it felt like she had been stabbed.
Damon rested his forehead against hers, wiping away her tears gently. "You breathed life into me, Elena. How could you ever be the reason I die?"
He kissed her. It was short and sweet, and it made her want to grab him and never let go. But eventually he did, walking over to hug Stefan. Elena bit down on her lip, to keep in the sobs. He took her hand, and they had just started the walk back to the station, when lights appeared at the end of the street.
"Well, well, going somewhere?"
Rebekah Mikaelson looked elegant as always, but the warmth had gone from her eyes. Replaced with cold fury. She was surrounded by around a dozen men. After what had happened to her brother, she was taking no chances.
"Back to prison, if you would believe it." Damon called back.
Elena looked up at him. His voice sounded cheerul, but up close, she could see that he had tensed. He was ready for a fight. She squeezed his hand, more to keep him from doing anything stupid.
Rebekah smiled coldly. "I'm sure that's true." She responded, sarcastically.
"Rebekah. You kept our secret from Klaus, because you wanted to protect us. Please, do the same now. Let us go." Elena said, stepping forwards, pleading.
"I did. Because I knew my brother, I knew his fury rivalled no ones. And you seemed like a sweet, innocent girl. I didn't want you to pay a heavy price for one foolish mistake. Everyone's allowed one foolish mistake." Her voice trailed off wistfully, before she snapped back to the present. "And how did you repay me? You murdered him. You murdered my brother." Her voice shook with a mixture of grief and anger.
"You know me! You know I would never do that. It's all lies, it didn't happen like that!" Elena protested, but Rebekah shook her head.
"You mean to tell me that little gutter rat didn't drive a knife through my brother's chest?" She asked, looking with disgust at Damon.
"Yes, I did." Damon said, stepping forwards so he was in line with Elena. "I did kill your brother. And I don't regret it. He was a horrible person."
"You know what? I can't wait until the hanging. Kill him now." Rebekah said, ordering the men beside her. They stepped forwards.
"Wait!" Elena cut in. "You said you knew your brother, right? Knew his fury? He tried to kill me! Tried to kill his unborn child! Damon acted in self defence!"
Rebekah shook her head once more. "Stop lying! Klaus would never harm his own blood. Family meant more to him than anything. But you wouldn't know anything about that. Loyalty means nothing to you." Rebekah said, glaring at Damon once more. He opened his mouth to speak, but she steamed on. "I should have known! The moment I heard you were a Salvatore, I should have stopped things then! You Salvatores are all the same!"
Elena looked up at Damon, but he seemed equally confused. "What?" He asked, but Rebekah wasn't even listening anymore.
"You come from a family of cheats. Your word means nothing. You're all cowards! You won't stand up for what's yours, and the minute you're offered an easy way out, you just take it! You're all liars!" She almost screamed the last word, her usual composed elegance having completely vanished.
"What are you talking about?" Damon tried again, as Rebekah breathed hard, her eyes ablaze with anger.
"She's talking about me."
Stefan said quietly, stepping out from behind Enzo and Barrow. Elena saw the same sorrow in him that she had seen earlier. He looked tired, and worn down. Damon had the same expression of shock and bewilderment as her. She looked back to Rebekah, who had seemingly frozen in shock.
"Rebekah. It's been a while." Stefan said, his tone unusually cold.
Enzo looked between Stefan, Damon, Elena and Rebekah, with an expression of amusement. "Well well, seems I've stumbled into quite the family drama."
Well, hope you liked it? Please let me know! Is anyone even still reading it? I know I left it a while, sorry! Also, quick question, I was just wondering how people felt about the introduction of vampires/witches etc into the story? Should I do it, or just leave it all human, as it is at the moment? I'm open to either way, so just let me know!