Stefan

"Damon, what have you done?" I shout at his face, almost standing up, ready to attack him, but Elena stops me at the last second, restraining me.

"Wait, Stefan, let's hear him out." She grabs my hand, holding me in place.

"Yeah, Stefan, hear me out," Damon smirks, clearly amused at my reaction.

"You'd better have a very good reason for owning this." I throw the paper on the table, all the while glaring at Damon, I am still angry, how can he be so stupid?

"Let's just say that you're not the only one I want revenge on, Stefan," Damon says and I can feel Elena stiffening beside me when he mentions revenge.

"Revenge?" I scoff, "Everything all boils down to revenge with you, right?"

"I have every reason to want it; do I need to remind you what happened, and your part in it?" Damon's voice is icy and menacing, his face has lost its previous glee.

"It was not Stefan's fault," I hear Elena say beside me, before I could stop her. Damon's head snaps at her direction, surprise clear on his features.

"And how was it not his fault, do tell me?"

I close my eyes, wishing nothing but to get away from here, to get Elena away from Damon. Katherine is and will always be a sore spot for him and I don't know how much he can be pushed without making him snap.

"He didn't know. How could he have known that those archangels were following him? You can't blame him for wanting to see his brother, his only family. You were the one who caused all the problems. You and nobody else. It is not fair to put all the blame on Stefan while you are the one responsible for putting Katherine through danger and making her run. I am sure that they would've found you without Stefan's help or not. It was only a matter of time." She gets it all out in one breath, defiance in her voice, all the while keeping eye contact with Damon, letting him know that he won't have power over her.

I take a deep breath while I listen to Elena's words. Isn't that what I am doing with her? Putting her into danger for my own selfish reasons? Because I don't have the restraint to keep myself away from her, to keep distance.

I direct my gaze at Damon who is still silent, watching Elena, studying her face. I can see how he tries his hardest not to be affected by her words, but it is evident that she had hit a spot. I know that Damon would never confess to it, that she might have been right in way, but seeing the flicker of truth dawning on him makes me feel better. I will always blame myself partly for what happened, it will never change, but thanks to Elena, I have come to realize that just maybe I am not to blame wholly for it.

After the uncomfortable silence between the three of us, Damon finally relaxes, taking me by surprise, I expected him to lash out, I was prepared for it.

"You've got a firecracker here, Stefan. Can't say I don't like it." He wiggles his eyebrows towards Elena, but she looks at him with disgust.

"Enough of this already," I declare, deciding it's time to get to the matter on hands. "Damon." I turn to my brother. "Now would be a very good time for some explanations."

He leans back on the sofa, crossing his hands behind his head – "It's all very simple." He smiles deviously. "With this we will bring down angels." He points his finger at the paper.

I almost choke, he has lost his mind. I open my mouth to object, but Elena beats me to the punch

"We?" she asks incredulously.

"Yep. You, Stefan and me." He says like it's all crystal-clear.

"Are you insane?" I manage to get out, shooting daggers at him with my eyes.

"No, I am completely sane here, Stefan. Don't you see? Don't you remember when we tried to get to know more about this human-turned-angels thing? How everyone was so reluctant to give us answers? Well, I acquired the answers. Here, on that paper."

"But how do you know it's about… us?" Elena asks, interest sparkling in her eyes.

"Yeah, that's the thing, this is only a part of the prophecy. This was the only part I managed to fetch. And I might have an ally up there, who knows more of it." he points his finger upwards.

"Stop avoiding the subject, Damon." I am getting very agitated here. Elena feels it too, as she squeezes my hand in a reassuring way.

"Stef, calm down," he shrugs, "take it easy. You're acting like I am about to start murdering everyone." He grins.

"I am tired of your efforts to evade the subject. Just spill it out."

"Fine," his face takes back the serious expression. "Three humans – You me and Elena." He looks me in the face and then at Elena, watching our reactions. He opens his mouth to continue, but Elena interferes again.

"You and Stefan are not human."

"Aren't you a bright one." Damon grimaces, annoyed. "Correction – Stefan and I were human. It is just a matter of interpretation. And you, Elena," he drawls out her name, "There's a part of the prophecy that I couldn't get my hands on, but it made it pretty clear that it's a woman, there was more, but for now I am keeping it to myself."

"Why?" Elena shoots back, "If you want to draw us into all of this," she glances at me, giving me a small smile, "Then you should tell us everything that you know."

"It's called leverage. There's no way I am spilling all my secrets to you." Elena glares at him, but I am not surprised, Damon has always acted this way, keeping something to himself, so he could use it later for his own benefit.

"Who are the fallen ones?" I ask, not wanting to dwell on who's keeping secrets and who is not, no longer.

He raises his eyebrows – "Really, Stefan, you don't get it? I am ashamed." He mocks me.

"Would you just…" I begin, but then it dawns on me – "It's you. One of the fallen is you. Of course." I nearly roll my eyes.

"See, now that wasn't that hard, was it?" Damon stands up and walks over to the window. He peeks through the curtains as if he is waiting something to happen.

"Who's the other fallen?" Elena asks suddenly.

"What?" Damon turns to look at her, confusion on his face.

"One fallen shall be the redemption of the other." She recites, "Who is the other fallen?"

Damon shrugs his shoulders – "I don't know, some poor bloke who has fallen, I don't care."

"You should." Elena speaks up again, "You're supposed to be the redemption of the fallen."

"We will get to that when the time is right," he squints his icy eyes, not wanting to linger on that anymore.

"I don't understand." I state, I have a feeling that Damon has left a very important piece of information out.

Damon, still standing by the window, groans – "What is so hard to understand?"

"You're leaving something out." I voice my suspicion.

"I am telling you everything on a need to know basis."

"If you want us to be a part of this ridiculous plan you're hatching, then you shouldn't be so scarce with information," I tell him, but he doesn't react to anything I say.

"Baby bro, the thing is that you two already are a part of this plan of mine, things have already been set in motion."

"What things?" I stand up from the couch, breaking contact with Elena. I walk over to Damon, ready to do something, I don't even know what.

"Relax, Stefan, you're so tense." He teases on purpose, trying to get me even more worked up.

"How can I?" I ask, "When you just appear in my life after a very long time, threaten me and Elena, then show up at her doorstep and want us to be a part of something you won't even explain!" I throw my hands up in the air in frustration.

"Stefan," a soft voice rings next to me, Elena puts her hand on my arm, I had gotten so worked up that I didn't even notice that she had also stood up, "He is not worth it." she shoots a deadly glare at Damon. I instantly calm down, when I feel her touch on my skin.

"Damon, I think you should go now." Elena says, authority in her voice.

"Why should I do that?" he responds, "I thought you wanted to know more." His lips curve into a smile

"I think it's clear that getting answers out of you is near impossible. Just go."

"You're feisty, Elena. That's good." He gives her a small smile and then peeks out of the window again, nods at something and then turns to leave.

"This was fun, we should do this again." He laughs, "Stefan," he nods at me, "Elena. See you soon." He wiggles his fingers goodbye and then disappears.

I take two long strides and look out of the window, but I see nothing. I wonder why Damon was suddenly in such a hurry to leave, I don't believe that he left because Elena told him so.

I turn to Elena – "Elena, I am so sorry." I never wanted this for her, never in my wildest dreams had I thought something like this could happen.

"It's okay, Stefan," she tells me, but I can see that her brave façade is crumbling down.

"No it's not," I walk over to her and pull her into a hug. She immediately melts into me, holding onto me as strong as possible as she silently sobs in my arms. "Elena, I promise I won't let anything to happen to you. I promise."

She doesn't say anything for a while we just stand there; holding each other. I am so irrationally angry at myself, at Damon. I think back to all those things I have said and done, making promises and then breaking them. How many times have I said to Elena that I will keep her safe? And how many times have I failed her? The thought that something could happen to Elena because of my choices, because I was too weak to stay away from her, it is almost crippling. This time, I swear that I will do anything in my power to shield her, I won't, I can't let anything happen to her. It would destroy me. Even if keeping Elena safe meant defying Klaus, even if it meant sacrificing my life, it would all be worth it. She would be worth it. There is no way that I could stay away from her now.

"Jeremy." She gasps, looking up, at me. Her eyes are full of panic, worry about her brother rising to the surface again.

"Jeremy will be alright." I assure her, "He will be waking up soon." I can already hear his breathing changing upstairs.

Elena visibly relaxes in my arms, "What am I going to tell him?"

"Whatever you want to." I say to her, "It's your choice."

"I can't lie to him," she breathes, her eyes are wandering all over the room, like she's looking for answers.

"Then don't," I respond. I am aware that telling Jeremy would complicate the situation even further, but in this, I agree with Elena, lying to Jeremy could in time be even worse.

She doesn't respond, but I can feel how she her thoughts are working on full speed, trying to conjure up a solution.

"Elena..."

"Yes?"

"We should sit down, you're shaking like a leaf."

Her eyes are puzzled, then she reaches out one arm and I can see how her fingers are trembling – "Oh..." she exhales. I lead her towards the couch and make her sit down. She pulls her knees close to her body, looking straight ahead. I take a seat on the couch across her.

"Stefan," she whispers, "Where were you?"

I inhale, playing back the meeting with Klaus in my head. I guess there's no harm in telling her, after all I have decided that I won't let her go.

"One of the archangels, Klaus, summoned me to heaven." I say, waiting for her next question.

Her eyes snap up from the ground, locking with mine – "Why?"

"To warn me. They have noticed that I've been getting too close to you." His words play again over and over again in my head – "Do not cross the line, or you will suffer from the consequences, you and your human. Do not cross the line, do not..."

"What are you going to do?" she wonders, her big brown eyes full of fear for my answer.

"I won't leave you." I say simply, the truth of my words finally settling over me. It's decided.

Elena nods to herself, a small smile playing on her lips. "Stefan, what Damon just told us..."

"We don't know if what Damon told us was truth or not, he could've just made everything up simply to toy with us." Although I know that's not true, there's no way that Damon forged that piece of prophecy that's now lying on the table like some bad omen. It looks to real, and it feels too real.

"But what if everything he told us was the truth?" She asks, "What are we supposed to do?"

"I guess we will have to see what life has in store for us, there's really nothing else we could do but wait."

"Could you read the prophecy out loud for me once again?" Elena then requests.

"Sure," grimacing, I take the wretched paper off the table and fold it open.

One fallen shall be the redemption of the other. One soul shall set free what once was imprisoned. Three human souls will find salvation, two will flourish, one will perish.

When I finish I look up to see Elena's brow furrowed and her face deep in thought. She doesn't say anything for a while and I decide it best not to disturb her.

"I don't understand," she finally speaks up again. "Who is the one who will set free what once was imprisoned? What was imprisoned?"

"Damon left a lot out," I admit, "I truly have no idea. To be completely honest, this is the first time I have ever heard that there are any kinds of prophecies in heaven. Where Damon got this info – I don't know." I shake my head.

"And what did he mean by us being the three human souls finding salvation?" Elena is almost talking to herself now, "What do we need salvaging from? I just don't understand," she keeps repeating it over and over again.

"Elena..." I stand up from and sit down next to her; I touch her shoulder gently, snapping her out of her trans-like state.

"Don't think of it right now," I say to her, "It will only make your head hurt." I give her a what is supposed to be a reassuring smile, but I am quite sure it turned out to be more of a grimace.

She laugh nervously, shuddering under my touch. She leans her head on my shoulder, closing her eyes. We are content sitting like this for a while.

"Stefan?" she mumbles after some time.

"Yes?"

"Have you ever wanted something so bad, it literally hurts when you think of it?"

I think about it for minute – "Yeah. I have. Why the sudden topic change?"

"No reason." She smiles lightly, not opening her eyes. "I just wanted to know."

"Well, you got your answer."

"What did you do to stop it from hurting?" she asks me.

I am instantly flooded by memories of my childhood in Italy, when all I ever wanted was to have a puppy, but father forbade it. Then one day when I was walking on the market with my mother I saw an elderly woman with three small puppies – she was giving them away. I begged my mother to get one, but she told me that father wouldn't like it, so we just walked pass them. But when we got home, I told Damon about the puppies and together we sneaked out to the market and brought all three of them home. Father was of course furious, but eventually he let us keep them.

"I just went for it," I say, smiling at the memory.

Elena opens her eyes and leans back to look at me. I look at her and notice that something in her eyes has changed, they are sparkling like diamonds and I can swear that her heart is going to jump out of her chest at the crazy rate it's now beating.

"So what is it you want so badly?" I wonder, curious.

"This." She murmurs and leans forward, pressing her lips against mine. I am completely taken aback by her sudden action, I didn't see it coming.

Elena's lips taste like every heavenly thing in this world, it's indescribable. She presses her body closer to mine, tangling her hands in my hair and I respond by putting my hands on her waist, holding her strongly. I can feel every part of my body being over flown with the amazing current that flows through both of us. Her breath, her scent, her whole being is unimaginably beautiful. Her lips fit mine like a glove, perfect for each other, I wonder if hers were made to fit mine. I feel like I am drowning, but not in a bad way, I feel like I am finally home – here with her.

She breaks away from the kiss, breathing heavily, she leans her forehead on mine, locking her eyes with mine.

She whispers – "Never let me go."

"Never." I breathe.

Guys, I can't thank you enough still for the reviews and all the support. Sometimes I have to pinch myself to make sure this isn't a dream lol!

I hope you liked this chapter and we'll meet again the next time ;)