the memorial

a/n: Please listen to the song "Iridescent" by Linkin Park while you read.

The young man took another deep breath as he started down the long hallway. It had been the first time that he had been back here since that afternoon.

"Wow," he murmured to himself as he took the first familiar route that he always took every single morning when he arrived for his first class.

"Okay, you want to explain to me why we are doing this?"

Damon rolled his eyes before chuckling. "It's called art, Stefan."

Stefan eyed the buckets and brushes before looking back at his brother. "It's called a paint fight. Hence our girlfriends and Lexi." He threw his head back and gestured towards the girls that were exiting the sliding glass door of the kitchen, all three clad in old shorts and teeshirts.

Caroline's light blond hair was pulled up into a tight bun and she was constantly tucking stray tendrils behind her ears. Her tanned limbs were snug in a pair of dark blue cut-off jeans and a white teeshirt. Bonnie's thick hair was in a braid down her back and she was wearing white shorts and a red teeshirt whilst Lexi had her hair down (stupidly, Damon thought) and wore a pair of khaki shorts and a black teeshirt. All three were barefoot as well.

"Come on, Caroline! Don't look so nervous. You're going to have fun!" Damon called to her before dipping his brush into the first bucket of paint at his feet.

Caroline eyed the dripping brush warily, holding up her hands in defense. "Damon, that's not fair. It's supposed to go onto the canvas, not me."

"Come on, Blondie. You scared?" Damon waggled an eyebrow at her and she shot him the dirtiest look she could muster.

"Me? Scared?!" she snapped, her hands resting on her hips. "Yes!"

Damon let out the most wicked laugh he could before hurling the dripping blue paint brush onto her shirt front.

"You ass!" Caroline cried before jumping forward. "Stefan, I love you, but I am going to kill your brother. That okay?"

Stefan just shrugged. "Have fun!"

"Traitor!" Damon yelled before taking off like a shot, trying desperately to flee from the girl with the full paint bucket directed at his head.

The studio looked the same. Exactly the same as it had looked ten years before. The easels still stood in the half circle, the pottery wheel was still pulled over to the corner, the line of buckets of paint was still by the far wall. Everything was exactly the same.

Damon slowly eased himself over to the easel on the far left. It was the one that he always occupied. It gave him a perfect view of Bonnie and everything that she would do while she was teaching or just sitting at the professor's desk.

Smiling sadly, Damon left one golden rose sitting on that stool, positioned so the light falling through the window caught it's magnificent colors, almost bringing out a beautiful glow.

He stood back, taking a deep breath as he slowly allowed himself to leave the room, letting all of it go for the first time in those ten years.

The classroom looked exactly the same. It was kind of eerie in Damon's opinion. Glancing up to the front, he realized that the same professor that had taught him and Stefan those years ago was still here.

"No wonder," he chuckled to himself.

"Oh, lose that look, sourpuss."

"I just can't believe it."

"You believed it three months ago. Now buck up."

"But failing this class and then having to take it again with you!" Stefan let out a dramatic wail and threw his hand against his forehead in the fainting position.

Damon rolled his eyes. "You are such a drama queen."

"That's why he's taking a theatre class this semester."

"Caroline!"

"Theatre?!" Damon couldn't help the laughter that burst out of his throat. "Art is my domain, not yours."

The blonde took her seat behind Stefan, trying not to break out giggling herself. "We kind of played strip poker the night before registration and well...he kind of lost."

Damon continued to stare at his furiously reddening brother. "Oooh, I am so excited to come to your first play! It's going to be so cool! So what is it, The Cat in The Hat? Hey Diddle, Diddle, The Cat in the Fiddle?"

"Shut up, Damon. And Caroline..." A low growl ripped from Stefan's throat, only causing Caroline to laugh harder.

"Oh, there's Lexi! Lexi!" Caroline waved an arm at their other blonde friend who had just entered the room with her bag slung over her shoulder.

"Lexi?" Now it was Damon's turn to whine. "She's scary."

And it was Stefan's turn to smirk. "Hey, Lex! Over here!"

Lexi beamed at her friend before she noticed his irritating older brother. "Oh, dear. I had no idea that he was in the class," she said as she lowered herself into the chair behind Damon.

Damon shifted nervously in his seat. Lexi's grimace turned into a look of happiness, realizing that for once, Damon was totally at her mercy.

"This is going to be fun," she smirked. "Heeelllooo Damon."

"Switch places with me," Damon beseeched his brother. "Switch places with me."

Stefan shook his head. "You dug your own grave with that one, buster."

"Benedict Arnold."

"Jerk."

"Bitch."

Damon let out a soft sigh before resting the gold rose on the desk where he had sat for over a year. He worked his way out of the classroom before heading down the hallway. He could see it up ahead. He could see that huge wooden door that was still polished and shined to a pristine.

Glancing down, he realized he had two roses left in his hand. One was slightly bigger than the other, it's petals longer and more gold around the edges. The other was a little smaller but just as beautiful as the first. In the back of his mind, Damon made a small note to try to sketch these two roses later.

He stepped towards the bathroom door, his hand pressed against the handle. His breath shuddered in his belly and he felt slightly sick.

Did he really want to do this?

He had to do this. He had to finally say goodbye and move on. It was all that mattered right now. He needed to do it for himself and for Caroline and even for Morgan and Aiden and Bonnie. If he couldn't really let go of what happened, he could never really focus on them. It was that grief and that anguish that would hold on forever.

His hand started to push on the handle of the door, his toes crossing the threshold.

And then his phone rang.

Damon released the breath he had been holding as he wriggled his cell out of his pocket, quickly answering it.

"Hello?"

"Damon? Damon, it's Bonnie. Damn it, I am so sorry for doing this to you-"

"Bonnie, what's the matter?" Damon asked, interrupting her slightly worried voice.

"Listen, the kids and I were coming back from a friend's baby shower and my car broke down. Somehow the radiator overheated and I have tried tinkering with it and even adding more water but it's not working. I am so sorry but-"

"Easy, Bonnie. Easy, it's okay. Where are you? I'll be there to pick you up."

As Bonnie relayed the road that they were stuck on, Damon stepped away from the door, the roses falling forgotten out of his hand and onto the floor.

Less than thirty minutes later, Damon found Bonnie's SUV and his family. The kids were still safely tucked into the backseat while Bonnie was getting out of the front, waving an arm at him. He eased his own car over and off the road, away from traffic. It was starting to get dark and the road was getting a slightly eerie look to it.

"Hey!" He waved back. The lovely dark skinned woman glanced both ways before jogging across the road and into his arms.

"Damon, I am so sorry. I am so sorry. I am so stupid. I know how important that was to you and I-"

"Bonnie, shut up. You are more important. And besides...I think it did a lot of good," he whispered, his light blue eyes boring into her hazel ones.

Bonnie eased back onto the balls of her feet. "Are you sure? Absolutely sure? I mean-"

Damon nodded. "Yes, I am. I'm doing all right." He could tell that she didn't believe him. But right now, it was more important just getting her and those tired kids home.

They set to work transferring all the kids' stuff into the back of his car. Aiden's car seat, Morgan's book bag, another present from the boys to Damon that they had planned on surprising him with later, and Bonnie's things that she refused to leave on the side of the road for any looter to get a hold of.

"Seriously, Bonnie? Your tissue holder?" Damon barked as she ran across the road for the third time to retrieve items she had forgotten.

The brunette shot him a dirty look as she unlocked the car. "It's real silver, Damon! And my mother gave it to me! I am not leaving that behind!"

Damon rolled his eyes before he glanced into the backseat. Morgan had dozed off but Aiden was awake, buckled up tight in his car seat.

"I think Mommy's lost her mind," he said, waggling his eyebrows.

Aiden giggled. "Yeah, Mommy's crazy."

"Quit trash talking me to our sons, Damon!" Bonnie called as she continued to root around in her car.

"Well, hurry up then and I won't!" He bellowed back.

It was at that moment a long black truck pulled up. The truck looked like it needed some serious body work done and it was missing a plate on the back. The driver was young. Looked maybe mid-twenties and had a really fearful look on his face.

"Everything all right here, folks?" the young man called.

Something was rotten in Denmark. Damon could feel it as he slowly unbuckled his seatbelt.

"Yeah, we're good. Wife's car broke down and I came to pick her up," Damon called back.

"Have you called Triple A?" the young man asked.

"Yep," Damon said. "They can't come until the morning." Out of the corner of his eye, he could see Bonnie slowly creeping along the back of the truck, easing towards them.

The man took a deep breath. Sweat was coating his forehead and he was almost shaking.

"Can I do anything to help?" he asked, his hands fumbling with something in his lap.

"We're good. Thanks," Damon whispered loudly enough for him to hear. He nodded towards Bonnie and she was safely in the car within the minute.

"Can you get out of the car then?" asked the man. Damon saw him raise a up the object in his hands.

It was a gun.

And it was aimed right at the backseat where Morgan and Aiden were sleeping.

"Oh, my God."

Bonnie's voice was a terrified squeak. Damon ran his fingers over hers before obeying the robber's commands.

"Now, what do you think you're doing?" Damon asked as he slowly opened the car door. He knew if he tried to drive off like a shot, the kid still had a clean shot at that backseat.

"What does it look like?" The kid snapped. But his hand was still shaking. "I want you to throw all of your stuff onto the ground. Your wallet, your watch, your wedding ring. Your wife too. Everything of hers onto the ground."

"All right," Damon said easily, ignoring his pounding heart. He carefully pulled his wallet out of his pocket and tossed it to the ground. He undid the clasp on his watch and tossed it to the ground too beside the wallet. He leaned a hand back and Bonnie passed everything of hers to him. He let them fall to the ground.

"The rings too."

Damon stared at his wedding ring for a second before wrenching it off his finger and carefully letting it fall to the ground. Bonnie's rings made a safe landing into the pile.

The kid with the gun watched this procession for a moment before slowly easing out of his truck. His pistol was still trained right at that backseat.

"How old are you?" Damon asked him.

"Shut up."

"No, seriously. How old are you?" Damon asked him again. "Twenty? Twenty two? Can I ask you why you are doing this?"

"Seriously, you need to shut up."

"Damon, please..." Bonnie's voice was weak with fear.

"Kid, you don't need to do this," Damon murmured, taking one cautious step towards the kid. "You don't need to do this. Whatever situation you are in that is leading you to do this, I can help. Trust me, I can lend a hand. You do not have to do this."

"I have to do this," muttered the kid. Damon could see pain and anguish written all over his features. "I have too."

"Is someone forcing you? Are you being threatened?" Damon asked.

"No, it's not that-Just shut up! Back off or I swear to God-!"

"All right, all right. I'm sorry," Damon stepped back. He still had a bad feeling in the pit of his stomach. This wasn't going to turn out right. Something was going to go horribly wrong. He needed to get that gun away from him. He just had to get this kid to put that gun down.

The kid lowered himself down, scooping up the wallets and the jewelry. He stuffed them deep into the pocket of his coat, his gun finally lowering slightly.

"Kid?"

The kid's head shot up. "Leave it."

"Give me the gun. All right? Just give me the gun. You don't have to do this," Damon murmured, finally stepping forward once again. He leaned out one hand, keeping the other down and behind him. "It's okay. You don't have to do this."

Tears were in the kid's eyes. His hands were still shaking, shaking even more violently than before.

"No, I need too. I need the money..."

"I have money," Damon said quickly. "You can take everything that you have got there. It's all yours. Just put down that gun."

"No..."

Damon was even closer to the kid, his hands reaching out to grasp his arms. "You don't have to do this. Everything will be okay."

"Damon, please!" Bonnie's voice was still choked with fear. But she sounded far away. Too far away.

The kid's hands were loosening on the gun. His fingers were slipping from the trigger...

And then...

And then...

The gunshot was like a cannon going off.

"Damon!"

He was falling. Falling so far and so long.

And those arms were there to catch him.

Stefan's hands were pressed against his chest, trying avidly to staunch the flow of the blood. He visibly winced at a sound of another gunshot but didn't turn to the falling body of Nick.

"Damon, you moron!" Stefan cursed him.

Damon could barely see his brother. His face was so blurred and Damon wasn't sure if it was from the tears or if it was from the life slowly dwindling out of him.

"Stef-an..." His own voice was choked. He could barely get the words out of his throat.

"No, Damon. Don't try to talk, okay? You're going to be okay. Everything's going to okay," Stefan whispered, one arm looped around his back and keeping him elevated while the other still pawed at his bleeding chest.

"Stef..."

"Damon, no! Don't, okay? You're not going to die. You're not going to leave me here alone!" Stefan's voice was lost in a sob.

"You're not...going to be alone..."

It was almost time.

"Damon, please..." Something hot was falling onto his face. It was cleaning away the drops of blood that had sure sprayed on him. On the both of them.

He could see it.

It was so beautiful.

Such an amazing light.

He must remember to paint it later.

"Do you see it, Stef?" he found himself asking. "It's so...pretty."

Stefan sniffled before giving a shaky nod. "Yeah, brother. I do see it."

Damon found the strength to lift a hand and rest it on top of Stefan's. "You won't be...alone."

The light was almost blinding. It was pulling him in.

"Time to go home."

How do you measure real love?

It can be the love of a mother to her child.

It can be the devotion of a dog to his master.

Pretty much, it's that true need to protect that person of your love, no matter what the cost. It's when you will do anything, absolutely anything for that person. Laying down your whole life, sacrificing yourself.

Real love is when all you want is to see that one person happy beyond measures.

That one person to live their whole life even if you can't live yours.

And even if you can't, it doesn't really matter. Because you lived out your purpose. Your real purpose.

And in that, you live on.

There we go! Anyone catch the symbolism with the two roses?

Now, if anyone doesn't understand, the last three chapters and parts of chapter two were all in Damon's imagination. He saw what could happen if he had let Stefan die that day. He saw what he had always wanted, a life with Bonnie and beautiful children but his life wasn't complete. He was miserable because Stefan wasn't in that life and he was living with that guilt that he had let him die.

So in the end, it was Damon who had actually died. He had walked in front of Nick's gun, protecting his brother and then dying in Stefan's arms. He died knowing that he had made the right choice in allowing his brother to live because he knew exactly what life would have been like without him.

Now, I am not saying that Damon isn't important either. I'm sure if the tables were turned, the story would have happened all over again. Originally, I was going to have it be from Stefan's point of view and it being Damon that had died that day and Stefan surviving but I decided to give Damon's point of view a shot. And I have to say, I am very pleased with the outcome.

There will be one more chapter to sum all of this up.

Either you hate me or you love this. Whichever you decide, it's okay. Everyone's entitled to their own opinion but I do hope that you liked it.

Reviews are very appreciated!