A/N: Thanks for the incredible number of reviews everyone! We're STILL in exam season, so sorry for the wait, but we hope this chapter is worth it. Please let us know what you think!

1864
Elena POV

Fear brought back part of my strength, but no matter how hard I kicked and struggled, it was futile. The guard unceremoniously dumped me into the carriage. The metal muzzle drowned out my groan as I landed painfully on my wrist. As I attempted, albeit unsuccessfully, to struggle to my feet, the doors slammed behind me. A second later, I heard the sound of a key turning. I was locked in.

My heart was pounding so hard that it felt like my chest would burst. Fear clouded my brain, making me feel woozy. I squeezed my eyes tight shut, praying that this was all a dream, that I'd wake up in my own bed any minute, but to no avail. For a second, I thought I might pass out, as white dots flickered across the back of my eyelids for the second time in a ten minute period. Then a clinking sound next to me brought me back.

Plucking up my courage, I opened my eyes. The sight that met them was horrifying – possibly worse than anything else I'd even seen. I'd known this would happen, but the reality still shocked me, sending icy shards of terror through me. How on earth was I ever going to get out of this one?

Vampires. Six or seven, although I couldn't make myself count. All bound and muzzled, just as I was. They were – thankfully - still unconscious, knocked out by vervain, I guessed. It was too dark to see clearly, but I thought I vaguely recognised a few of them from when I'd helped rescue Stefan in 2010. Remembering what they'd done to him did nothing to calm me down.

I took a deep breath, trying to steady my nerves. Damon would come. He would. I had to believe that. He would figure out where I was and find a way, so all I had to do was wait. Wait and stay alive.

The clinking noise came again, making me start, then gasp as the movement caused the muzzle to cut into my cheek. The pain was driven out of my head a second later, however, by a jolt of horror that coursed through me. The vampire nearest to me was awake. I could see flickers of light reflected in his eyes.

The chains binding his hands clinked again as he shook them slightly, attempting to reach towards me, although he was clearly still weak and couldn't move far.

'No,' I whispered hoarsely, realising suddenly what he was after. Blood from my healed gunshot wound had soaked through the front of my dress, the angry red stain spreading across most of my stomach. The metal muzzle had cut into the corner of my mouth, and I could feel a trickle of blood running down my cheek. At this distance, the smell had to be overwhelming him.

I rolled over onto my side, gritting my teeth as my own chain dug into my side. Kicking my feet, I managed to shuffle backwards until my back hit the wall of the carriage, putting about a foot of space between me and the vampire.

A new thought hit me, and I recoiled in horror, pressing myself against the carriage wall. I knew that if I died tonight, I would turn into a vampire. What hadn't occurred to me was what that could mean.

I was in a carriage headed for the church. Did that mean I would become one of the vampires stranded in the tomb? Shivers passed across every inch of my skin. It wouldn't come to that. Damon would come. He had to.

However, another thought followed this one quickly. The tomb spell had come into effect because Damon had begged Emily to keep Katherine safe. He definitely wasn't going to do that tonight. Did that mean there would never be a tomb? That the vampires would burn in the Church, with me amongst them?

The vampire – a man I didn't recognise – shook his hands again, the chains jangling loudly as he tried to reach for me, effectively pulling me out of my thoughts. Luckily, it seemed as if I was more loosely bound than most of the vampires in the carriage, most of whom looked as if they were unable to move even an inch.

Suddenly, the entire carriage gave a jolt, almost throwing me away me from the wall, then started moving, the characteristic sound of horses trotting penetrating through the walls. I pushed away the fear knotting my stomach. There was still time.

The journey can't have taken more than ten minutes, but they were the worst ten minutes of my life. Bracing myself against the carriage wall, as far as way from the other inhabitants as possible, I squeezed my eyes shut and prayed.

When the doors of the carriage were finally, finally unlocked, the wall I'd been bracing myself against gave way and I tumbled straight out of the carriage, landing painfully on the grass. Almost immediately, a pair of strong arms lifted me, carrying me away from the carriage. My first instinct was to struggle, but then -

'I'll take he-it,' a familiar voice called out. 'You go and help the others.'

Relief washed over me as I felt Damon take me from the man carrying me, relief so powerful that I actually started shaking.

'Hold on, Elena, I'll get you free in a minute.' His whisper was so quiet I almost didn't hear it. I gave a slight nod of acknowledgement, unable to speak through the muzzle.

Damon waited until the other man was a safe distance away, then quickly dropped to the ground, gently putting me down and pulling off the metal muzzle.

'Damon!' I gasped the second it was off, as he pulled a ring of keys from his pocket and started to work on the chains. 'How did you find me?'

'I convinced my father I wanted to help fight the vampires, that I was angry with you and Katherine for manipulating me,' he said grimly, pulling the chains off me and dumping them on the ground. 'I went straight to Emily for help – you said she's a witch. Can you walk?'

He took my arm, pulling me gently to my feet and towards the woods.

'I think so,' I said, taking a tentative step forward. My wrists ached where the chains had dug in and my legs were stiff, but apart from that I seemed to be OK. 'Where are we going?'

'To a quarry just outside town,' Damon replied. 'Emily's going to meet us there.'

He waited until we were a safe distance from the carriage, under cover of the trees, before he continued his story.

'We went back, but you were gone, even though Stefan was still there.' I saw the pain on his face when he mentioned his brother. 'The carriage had left. Emily said that you might be in it…that there was a chance that Katherine had managed to get you captured instead of her. Once I realised where you might be heading, I begged her to do anything she could to protect you. Anything.'

I swallowed, hard. I had a horrible feeling I knew where this was going.

'What did she do?' I asked, unable to stop myself. I had to know. Had to know if my presence here had been what actually caused the tomb spell.

'She sent me to the church to try and get you out,' Damon said, his voice slowing as he, too, realised, what he'd done. 'She said that even if I failed, she'd make sure we could meet in the future….she asked me to promise to protect her descendents in return….'

I groaned. 'She cast the tomb spell, Damon. Those vampires are going to have to spend 145 years in agony because of us. And Stefan…' If it hadn't been for me, Damon would have helped his brother, and they might have been able to get Katherine away before Giuseppe arrived. The thought made me feel sick.

'We're here,' Damon said, cutting me off and avoiding my eyes as he indicated a crude wooden hut next to the quarry. 'Emily said she'd try and get the watch for you and meet us here.'

'She's getting the watch?' I perked up momentarily at this, having, incredibly, somehow forgotten about that aspect of our plan.

Damon smiled ruefully. 'She's going to try. We decided she had a better chance than I did. I may have convinced Father that I'm on the Council's side, but I doubt Jonathan Gilbert would let me anywhere near him.'

'Good point,' I conceded, sinking onto a bench inside the hut. Now that we were fairly safe, away from the chaos of the town, I was able to think clearly for the first time in a while. It was possible that I'd be going home tonight, soon even. Part of me couldn't wait – I'd missed my family and friends desperately. On the other hand, it hadn't escaped my notice that thought I'd failed to prevent Stefan's death and the casting of the tomb spell, Damon stood in front of me, still human. If I went back now, would I never see him again? The thought cut like a knife.

Just then, something else occurred to me. 'Damon, you said that Emily would arrange a way for us to meet in the future...but…you're still human. How…?' A part of me already knew the answer, but I wanted to hear it from him.

'I would have turned, Elena.' Damon looked straight at me, unashamed. 'Katherine's blood is still in my system. If I hadn't been able to save you…I knew you wouldn't last in the tomb, not with all those vampires. You would have turned too….it was part of my deal with Emily. That I would protect her family, in the future.'

I just stared at him, speechless, unable to believe the extent to which he would go for me. 'Damon…thank you…'

The words were woefully inadequate, and I knew it, but I had no words to describe the well of emotion filling me.

'Elena…' Damon said hesitatingly. He'd dropped onto a bench opposite me, his eyes fixed on mine.

I said nothing, but simply held his gaze, waiting.

'About what you said earlier,' he said slowly, 'about us causing those vampires to be in the tomb for 145 years….I just want to say, Elena, that…if I had the choice, I'd do it again. If it was the only way to save you, I'd do it again. Even though…even though it may have hurt Stefan. Elena….I love you.'

I said nothing, only climbing to me feet and stepping forwards to kissed him gently. He let out a low moan, rising to his feet to join me and wrapping his arms around my back, pulling me close and deepening the kiss. My hands slid under his shirt, running over his stomach and chest as his hand slid slowly down my back, below my waist.

A discrete cough from behind us pulled us apart, and we turned to see Emily, and a boy a little younger than her whose resemblance to her clearly marked him as her brother. Between them, they carried Stefan's motionless body, the sight of which still cut me deeply.

'Thank you. You should go.' Emily said quietly to her brother after they'd laid Stefan gently on one of the benches.

He nodded, then ran off, after shooting Damon and I one distrustful, suspicious gaze.

'Emily,' Damon said, releasing me and stepping towards her. 'Did you get…?'

She held up the pocket watch, silencing him. 'I see you managed to get her out.'

Damon looked at me, a smile lighting his face. 'I did,' he said, the relief evident in his voice. 'I think it's time we send her home.'

He reached out for the watch. Emily stepped up to give it to him, when -

Crack.

Emily jumped backwards, the look on her face one of pure terror. I spun around, the sight before me confirming my worst fears as an involuntary scream escaped my throat. Damon had crumpled to the ground, his neck obviously broken. And Katherine stood behind me, her patented grin spread across her face. Once hand was clamped down on the shoulder of Emily's brother, who looked utterly terrified. I dropped down beside Damon, squeezing his hand tightly as I tried to hold back the tears that had automatically filled me eyes.

'Don't look at me like that, cousin.' Her voice was almost cheerful. 'It's not like he's going to stay dead, after all.'

I had never wanted to harm anyone so much in my life. Only Emily's warning hand on my back as I rose to my feet prevented me from closing my fingers around my doppelgangers neck. I clenched them into the fists, gritting my teeth. It took every ounce of strength I had to prevent myself from flying at Katherine. Pure fury coursed through me, and I welcomed it, knowing that it would temporarily block out the pain that threatened to overwhelm me.

'So you managed to get out.' She looked at me disdainfully, then turned to Emily, her voice cold as ice. 'I would have expected better from you, Emily.' Her fingers tightened visibly on the boy's shoulder.

'Let him go, Katherine.' Emily's voice was steady, but I could hear the fear in it nonetheless. 'He has nothing to do with any of this.'

Katherine gave a short laugh. 'Oh, I'll let him go. But first, you're going to do something for me.'

There was pure venom in her eyes as she turned to me.

'You thought you'd won, didn't you, Elena? Going to the ball with Damon, turning him against me, trying to stop Stefan from freeing me.' She leaned in, her face only a few inches from mine. 'You didn't. I will always win, Elena. Always. Damon refused to follow my instructions. And for that, he will be punished.'

She indicated Damon, lying crumpled on the floor, and Stefan, stretched out on one of the benches. 'They cannot be allowed to remember her.' Her face hardened as she looked at Damon, and I involuntarily flinched. 'Especially Damon.'

She turned to Emily then. 'You will cast a spell on them so that when they wake up, they have no recollection of Elena, only me. Everything that Damon did with her, he'll remember having done with me. He'll remember begging you to help save me, not her. Got it?'

Once again, she tightened her grip on the boy's shoulder. Emily's eyes flickered briefly over my face, and she opened her mouth.

Sensing Emily's hesitation, Katherine, in a gesture now sickeningly familiar to me, opened a vein in her wrist and shoved it into the boy's mouth. His eyes widened in terror as she tried to resist, but Katherine simply pushed it further in, forcing him him to swallow the blood.

'Do it, or I'll kill him,' she said softly, staring directly at Emily, who shot me an apologetic glance before nodding, defeated.

Katherine looked at me, pointing to Damon's body. 'Move him, so that he's lying next to his brother,' she ordered.

Glaring at her, I took him under the arms, trying not to think about what I was actually doing. Trying not to think about what I had caused. Emily stepped forward to help me, and the two of us dragged Damon over to Stefan and laid him down.

'Elena, wait over there.' Katherine pointed into a corner. 'Do not move, or I will make you regret it.'

I stood there, powerless, unable to do anything, as Emily chanted something in the strange, old-fashioned language that Bonnie had used to open the tomb, waving her hands above the bodies of the Salvatore brothers. I'd been unable to save them. Unable to save anyone. In fact, my presence here had arguably only served to cause this series of events. All of this – the turning of the Salvatore brothers, the 145 years they'd spend hating each other – was my fault.

And it looked like I'd never get to apologise to them.

Emily stepped back from the bodies, a look of disgust on her face. I wasn't angry with her, despite what she was doing. She was under Katherine's thumb as much as I was, and she clearly hated what she was doing.

'Say what you want them to remember,' she said to Katherine, her voice full of a combination of anger and hatred.

Katherine stepped up to the brothers, no longer smiling. She gently took Stefan's hand, and once again, I had to stop myself from hitting her.

'You won't remember anything about Elena Pierce,' she said silkily. 'You will both remember loving me, and me alone.' She turned to Damon, addressing him alone. 'And you will continue to love me, and to try and save me from the tomb.'

She went on, removing the memories of everything we'd done together from Damon's head, making him forget the Founder's Ball, our kiss there, our entire relationship, everything he'd done for me tonight….and everything he'd said before Emily showed up. Regret filled me as I realised I'd never had a chance to reply to him when he'd said he loved me. Had never had a chance to say it back.

Because, I realised, I would have said it back. Somehow, incredibly, even though I was meant to be with Stefan, to love Stefan, I would have said it back. What Damon had done for me over the past month, everything we'd been through together….it all stood out as my single happy experience of being in this time. The memories were etched into my brain, and I knew that I, at least, would never forget them.

Katherine stepped back, apparently satisfied with her work. 'Now,' she said, turning to me, 'all that remains is how to deal with you.'

I faced her down, trying not to flinch. She was probably going to kill me, but somehow, I couldn't find it in me to care anymore. She'd won. She had won the second she snapped Damon's neck.

'I can't kill you,' she mused, surprising me. 'The last thing I need is you to wake up with them as a vampire.'

I almost smiled at that. Ironic that the presence of Katherine's own blood in my system was foiling her plans.

Katherine's eyes fell on the watch in Emily's hand. 'Send her back to her own time,' she commanded. 'Who knows what damage she'd do if she tried to remain here.'

Relief as strong as I'd ever felt coursed through my body as the reality of Katherine's words hit me. I was going home. Finally. And when I got there…both the Salvatore brothers would be waiting. Despite the fact that I'd spent a month trying to save their human lives, this thought made me incredibly happy.

Emily put the watch into my hand. 'Go, Elena. You know how it works.' As I took it from her, her fingers closed briefly over mine, squeezing my hand. Curious, I looked up. Our eyes locked as I took the watch from her hand.

Emily was standing with her back to Katherine, a look of deep concentration on her face, her lips moving soundlessly, as if to articulate a spell. She looked exhausted – clearly the memory spell had taken a lot out of her.

Incredibly curious, but not wanting to make Katherine suspicious, I started to set the hands of the watch to the time I'd long ago worked out, and started turning the dial forwards, counting carefully. And that's when the message came.

I heard Emily's voice in my head, as clearly as if she'd spoken aloud.

'Another witch can reverse my memory spell. I'm sorry for everything. Good luck, Elena.'

Immediately, a whole new host of thoughts crammed themselves into my head. The spell could be reversed? Bonnie could do it….Stefan and Damon would be able to remember what had really happened….

I pushed the thoughts away, concentrating on the count, giving Emily a faint smile and tiny nod to show I'd gotten the message. She smiled back, relaxing slightly. And then the familiar high pitched noise came from the watch, and my vision started to blur. The pocket watch slipped from my fingers as everything went black.

Her face was the last thing I saw in 1864.

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