Hi! There's not a lot of action in this chapter, but hopefully, you still like this.
All mistakes are mine!
Elena
"Go?" I mumble, confused. "Why? Where?" I am not sure if I am comfortable going with him just like this. I mean, I trust Stefan completely, it is something I can't change, even though I have known him for a very short time, but jumping blindly into the unknown is really not my thing.
"Do you trust me?" his voice is urgent and his eyes are darting to the door. If I didn't know better, I'd swear there is some form of terror in his divine green eyes.
I nod slowly, locking my eyes with his. I hope that he can read mine as well as I can read his. Although, mine are not as beautiful.
He reaches out his hand, offering it to me. I look at it and then I look at Stefan – "Take my hand, Elena," he says, giving me a small smile of encouragement.
I reach my own hand out hesitantly and place it into his. I guess it's time to go against what I usually do. Stefan puts his other hand onto mine and then I suddenly feel like the air is being sucked out of me, like I am falling into a deep whole with no way out. I close my eyes, waiting for the inevitable collision with the land, but it never happens. Instead I feel the atmosphere turning back to normal and then I hear Stefan's smooth voice very close to my ear – "Open your eyes."
I force myself to open my eyes, and I recognize my own room, even though it's dimly lit. I look around and see Stefan's face very close to mine and that's when I realize that my feet aren't touching the ground. I am in Stefan's arms. His very strong and firm arms. My breath hitches and it's very hard to concentrate with his arms on my body and his delicious scent in my nose. It takes all of my willpower to utter those next words – "Um, you can put me down now."
He drops me really fast, too fast even, as he, too, finally realizes that he is still carrying me. "I'm sorry," he mutters under his breath as he takes a step back.
I wobble on my feet, still weak from all the lying in the bed and this strange trip here. Wait. How did I get here? It suddenly hits me, and hard.
"What the hell, Stefan?" I practically start shouting, my emotions and maybe even fear taking over, "What was that?"
"Elena, I am so sorry," again with the apologizing, why does he look so guilty?
"Sorry for what? Stefan, I need answers." I try to continue my previous shouting, but I fail miserably and the voice that now comes out of my mouth is tired and weak. I push a strand of hair out of my face as I sit on the bed, my legs starting to give up on me. From the corner of my eye I can see Stefan taking a step forward, like he wants to come and support me, but at the last second he stops and takes back his old position by the window. I look expectantly at him, waiting for him to start talking.
"It was the only way to keep you safe." He breaks the silence.
"Safe? Safe from what?"
Stefan
How do I even begin to explain everything to her? "Hey, I believe that my evil brother, who is by the way, also a fallen angel, wants to hurt you." No sane person would accept that so easily. But then again, she accepted the truth about me fairly quickly. Am I saying that she's crazy? No, definitely not.
Elena beckoned me to sit on the chair beside her bed, which surprised me greatly. She wanted me to be closer to her. I couldn't help but wonder why. But the brief moment I got to be beside her was cut short as I suddenly heard a very familiar voice, and heavy footsteps echoing in the corridor. Damon.
"Baby bro, I know you're here. I also know that you can hear me. Visiting the precious Elena, aren't we?" I could picture the smirk on his face as he was approaching the room. Elena was just beginning to say something again, when I cut her off the second time, this time, putting a finger on her lips, surprising myself and her, too, by my unexpected movement.
And there it was again – the current flowing through me, a sensation so strange, so good. I could swear there was a second when only I and Elena existed in the entire world. A second, where there was no worries, no sadness, only pure joy.
But the moment was short-lived as Damon's voice pierced through my head – "Now, I wonder which room it could be? Maybe this one?" I could hear him opening a door, fortunately not the room's we were in.
I had to do something. I had to get Elena away from Damon. I had no idea of what kind of powers Damon possessed, so there was no way to be sure that I could keep her from harm's way if something would've happen. I had to get her to a safer place.
"We have to go. Now." I had made my decision.
"It's complicated," I finally answer, knowing that she won't give up on the subject, but not wanting to jump into the pool. Not just yet.
"Complicated how?" her answer is immediate and her eyes find mine again. Such gorgeous eyes they truly are. "I thought the question was fairly simple – safe from what?" she repeats her initial question.
I am stuck, reached an impasse. There's only one way to go and it's back to the beginning. Meaning that I have to tell her. A part of me tells me that if she didn't know, she'd be safer, but not telling her would be unfair to Elena. She has a right to know.
"My brother." I whisper, "Safe from my brother." I feel like a huge stone has been lifted off my chest as I let out a big breath, realizing that I'd been holding it all the while.
I can see her eyes visibly grow bigger as she registers what I just said. Her face is like watching a play – it goes from incredulousness to fear, to confusion. I wish I could read her mind to know what she's thinking.
"Y-y-your brother?" she stutters, eyeing me nervously.
"Yes." I try to keep my voice calm. "His name is Damon."
"How's that even possible?" she adjusts her position on the bed
"That I have a brother?" I chuckle lightly, running a hand through my hair. It's been a very long day.
"Yes. I thought you were immortal, so I just assumed..." I can detect the uncertainty in her voice.
"That I had no family. I understand." I take a step closer to her, pointing at the free space beside her. "May I?" I ask. I need to be closer to her.
She nods, and I could swear that her face lightens up a little as I sit next to Elena.
I examine her face, searching for fear or anything that indicates that I she doesn't want me here, but I don't see anything, so I decide to continue, get everything out – "I was human once." Elena sucks in a sharp breath. I smile ruefully – "So was my brother. My family moved here from Italy when I was thirteen."
"Go on." Elena urges me to tell the rest of the story.
"Damon was my best friend, and our bond became even stronger when our mother died, when I was only nineteen. Father didn't take it too well, though." I grimace and I guess that Elena sees that, because she takes my hand in hers, making soothing movements with her fingers. I watch her delicate hands next to mine, mesmerised by them.
"What happened?" her question brings me back to reality.
I take a deep breath, I didn't imagine recalling all of that would be this hard – "I don't know exactly what happened to him, I can only guess. Father probably went mad with grief. A year after our mother's passing, he didn't recognize us anymore and in confusion he killed us. Me and my brother."
Elena stops making circles with her fingers, and looks up at me – "I am sorry," she says sincerely, eyes brimmed with tears.
"It's okay," I murmur, "It's in the past."
"He was your father," she responds, "You never forget," Elena squeezes my hand.
She's right. I haven't forgotten and every time I recall those events something inside me breaks over and over again. He was our father. How could he? How come he didn't know who I or Damon was? What drove him to that point that he thought it'd be better to kill us?
I sigh – "Damon and I woke up in a forest near home. And there we were greeted by two strangers." I pause, deliberating on how much I should tell her.
"Who were they?" Elena asks, curiosity lacing her voice.
"Archangels."
Her eyes widen in disbelief – "You're saying that there are other kinds of angels too?"
"Yes." I simply respond.
"I should've figured that" she mumbles under her breath, looking away for once. "So then what happened?"
"You don't want to know more about the archangels?" I am seriously surprised that she doesn't ask for more information about them.
"Well...I do... but I want to know more about what happened to you and Damon." She gives a small smile, tilting her head to the side – "You can tell me about the archangels later, in the future."
I am speechless. She still wants me to be in her life, even in the future. Not in a guardian angel way, but in the way that we could talk, see each other eye to eye. Somehow, it makes me feel invincible, that I could do anything I wanted. This feeling is brand new to me.
"Stefan?" her voice wakes me up from dreaming.
"Oh, yes, now where were we?" I finally manage to get out
"You were telling me about the forest and the... archangels."
"Right." I clear my throat, ready to continue the story.
"Damon and I were the first humans to become angels. We were told that we were destined to be the first angels of our race, we tried to get to know more about that, but didn't manage to get any new info. Although, I am sure that there's more to that."
"So, you and Damon, you are both guardian angels?" Elena asks, after a minute of thinking. Her hand is still holding mine. I can also feel the strange current flowing through me, as it seems to do every time I touch Elena. It's not a bad feeling; on the contrary, it feels like heaven.
"No." I realize that I left out a piece of information. "Damon was an angel of death."
I can swear that there's a hint of fear in her eyes – "Was?"
"He fell." It's hard to say it out loud, I can't remember if I've ever said it to myself even.
"I don't understand?" she voices it as a question, but I can see that she knows exactly what I meant by that.
"Damon is a fallen angel. He fell because he loved a girl." My own voice is getting kind of shaky.
Elena pulls back her hands and as soon as she does that, I yearn to touch her again. The current is cut off so suddenly and it takes a great amount of strength to keep me from grabbing her hands again, just to feel it again. Instead I place my own hands on my lap and stare at them.
"Her name was Katherine." I begin. "She was supposed to die young, and Damon was the one who had to carry her to the other side." I look at Elena, but her face is a blank page, and she doesn't look at me.
"Damon fell in love. So did she. But angels are not allowed to get attached to people, less fall in love with them. We have to do our job and that's that."
Now comes the hardest part. I take a deep breath to prepare myself as I am about to live through that night again. Elena is still quiet.
"Katherine and Damon ran. They hid themselves from the archangels, knowing that if they are found, there are going to be dire consequences. But one day I saw Damon. Here. In Mystic Falls. Our old home."
That is what makes Elena speak again – "You're from here?"
I nod – "Yes."
"What happened next?" she lets the subject of Mystic Falls drop.
"I followed Damon to his home. An action I will regret for eternity." I drop my head even lower, guilt washing over me. "The archangels had been following me. I am guessing that they were keeping tabs on me all along, in case I should have a meeting with my brother." I try to fix my breathing, but the air seems to escape from me.
"The archangels, they killed Katherine, because they thought it'd teach other angels a lesson." I hear her screams in my head. "And cast Damon out of heaven." I can see my brother's face when he realized the love of his life is gone.
There's a long silence between us, only the sound of our breathing echoing through the room. Living through all of these memories has been harder than I thought. And Elena's still silent. Too silent.
"What happens when an angel falls?" she whispers, barely audible.
"I am not entirely sure about that." I remember what Damon said to me in the crypt. "All I know is that they lose everything that was ever good about them. Only the bad side, the evil side remains." I close my eyes, the truth about my brother is too much to handle right now. How much of him has remained? How much of the old Damon I loved so dearly, is still in there, somewhere?
"Stefan..." Elena speaks gently, "Look at me."
I slowly open my eyes and look at her beautiful face. I can see the trails that tears have left on her cheeks. I hate to see her cry. It makes me feel so helpless.
"Stefan, it's okay." She places her arm around my shoulder, "It's not your fault." It's like she read my mind and knew exactly what I was thinking.
I don't say anything, only shake my head a little. It will always be my fault. I created this mess.
"Listen to me, Stefan. You didn't know. You had no way of knowing what would happen." Her voice is stern, yet soothing.
"Elena... I can't."
"Yes you can. And you will." Her lips are so close to my ear, making me believe that maybe I will find a way to fix everything.
I turn my head a little to meet her eyes. "He's after you." I say.
Elena smiles a little, which is odd. "Yeah, I was guessing that would be the case."
"I have to keep you safe," it's a promise I made to myself and now I am making it to her.
"I know. You have kept me safe so far, I am sure you'll do it again," she leans her head on my shoulder. We stay like this for a long while. Not saying anything. Just being with each other, and it feels amazing.
Although I know the danger I am putting her into, I can't bring myself to regret this. And it seems to me that neither does she.
In my opinion, Stefan and Elena both understand on an unconscious level that they have feelings for each other, but somehow they're both afraid to say it out loud. Stefan's still in quite perplexed of why Elena would want to be close to him and vice versa. Hopefully, they'll soon be able to admit more than they're capable right now...
As I've gathered from your wonderful reviews, many of you can relate to Damon and understand his reasons for... well... revenge. Which is good, because my intention is not to make Damon to be the douchebag he is on the show, but to have his own reasons for doing certain things and his own motivation. I also love the brother's relationship, so I'm hoping to explore that too. And who knows, maybe Damon isn't as evil as he supposedly he is right now?
My deepest thank yous to all of you who have reviewed, favourited, followed this story! It means so much to me, thank you! You guys are great! :)