Hello, I am terribly sorry it took me so long to update. :( But life kind of got hectic and I lost my motivation to write this story... but you guys are stopping me from giving up, so hopefully I'll be able to find the inspiration again. :)

Stefan

We buried Jeremy on the Gilbert family plot. Half of Mystic Falls was present at the funeral, paying their last respects to the boy who they thought fell down the stairs and broke his neck. We were quite sure that Klaus won't retaliate during the ceremony, as there were so many people present.

I decided to attend the funeral as well, knowing that I will probably draw unwanted attention, but I couldn't leave Elena alone like that in her heartbreak and sorrow. I got many strange looks from various people, that is true, but I ignored them and tried to focus my attention on Elena the whole time, trying to help her through the day.

Everything she feels, I do, too. I feel how broken, lost and desperate she is and there is nothing else in the world that I want more than to take all that pain away from her, to tell her that everything is going to be okay, but I know that I can't. I can't say things to her that I can't fulfil. Instead, I am just there for her, holding her, comforting her, doing everything in my power to make her feel that she is not alone in this world, that maybe the sun will come back into her life one day. That is all that I can offer to her right now, and every night I pray that it is enough.

We've been staying at Damon and Katherine's house. It is not the best option as the house is old and quite uncomfortable according to modern standards, but it is the safest choice we have right now, since according to Damon, this house is somewhat safe against archangels and we don't know when Klaus decides to strike again, therefore we have a slightly higher chance of survival here, than in Elena's house.

It has been exactly 7 days and 8 hours since the events that lead to Jeremy's death. Elena's been crying herself to sleep every night and the little sleep she's been able to get has clearly taken a toll on her. She doesn't eat, her eyes have dark circles under them and what scares me the most is the emptiness behind them.

I've been trying to get her to talk to me, to let her get it all out, but she never is willing to speak about it. But I am not going to stop, I have made it my current mission to get through her.

She's sitting in the living room, on the red sofa as she has been doing for the past week. Elena doesn't even raise her head to look at me when I enter the room, her eyes are glued to the floor and her hair is covering her face.

I sit next to her, beginning another try of getting her to talk to me. Every time I do that, I leave with an ache in my heart, and fear. Fear, that she will never recover from this, that she will stay like this; the broken doll as she is right now.

"Elena…" I begin, placing my palm over her hand. Her hands are cold as ice; the warmth that used to surround her has completely vanished. She doesn't respond to my touch, but I persist on.

"Please, talk to me." I beg, giving a gentle squeeze to her hand, and to my surprise, she raises her head and her eyes meet with mine.

"I…" she stutters, "Stefan, I… I can't." her face contorts in pain, but no tears fall from her eyes. I scoot closer to Elena, and wrap my arm around her shoulder, she automatically leans into my body and I send a silent thank you to the sky, she's finally starting to break through the shell she's been wrapping herself into.

"Yes, you can, Elena." I assure her, "Let me help you."

"How?" her voice cracks. "It hurts so badly, Stefan, it hurts."

I wrap both of my hands around her, encasing her in a tight hug. She rests her head on my shoulder, holding onto me with strength I didn't know she possessed. – "Shh…it's going to be okay. I can't make the pain go away, only time will heal those wounds, but I want you to know that I'll be here for you. Always."

"Promise?" she asks her voice barely audible.

"Promise." And as soon as I let the word slip from my lips I think about all the promises I have made to her, and I haven't been able to keep. I didn't keep her safe. I didn't keep her brother safe. It's basically my fault that she's in this mess right now, I have caused this pain to her, and I am the one responsible.

"You will get through this, Elena. I know you will. You're strong, beautiful and I know that you'll push through." I whisper in her ear for reassurance, convincing myself that maybe my words will make her feel better, but in the back of my head I know that they are just a drop in a vast ocean.

"You don't know that." She mumbles, sniffling. "How can I live on, when I know that all of this is my fault."

I am shocked by her words, is she really blaming herself for what happened?

"Elena, look at me." I command and she hesitantly leans back, so our faces are only bare inches away from each other. I can see a trace of a tear on her cheek, but no new tears are falling.

"None of this is your fault." I tell her, sternly. Her ears register my words, but her mind doesn't.

"How is it not?" she asks. "My choices were what led us here. Mine and no one else's. I'm the one to blame." Her eyes are so earnest I want to scream. She truly believes that it's all her fault.

I wonder if she can see the horrified expression on my face. – "Elena," I stress her name, grabbing her attention, a bit angry with her, a bit with myself; I should have seen this coming. "Listen to me very closely now." I hold her gaze, making sure that she is paying attention. "Don't blame yourself for this, I am begging you." Elena tries to interject but I won't let her.

"If you want to blame someone, blame me. I was the one who couldn't stay away from you when I knew that I should have left the minute things got serious. Everything that went down happened for my selfish reasons. It happened because I chose you when I knew that all that it could bring was only misery. And I was right. Look where it got you. Your brother's gone, and you're in danger and it's all because of me. Do you understand?"

Her face is devoid of any emotion as Elena is registering my words. It takes a while and I am almost starting to worry, when she finally parts her lips and only one word comes out – "No."

"No?" I echo, making it a question.

"No, I mean I do understand what you said, but I don't agree with it." Elena's beginning to get her fire back, I can feel it, and even her body feels a bit warmer.

"I won't let you take the blame, Stefan." I want to protest, but this time it's her that won't let me do it. "I chose you too, don't you see that? I could have let you go the moment I saw how dangerous my life got. But I didn't, because I didn't want to lose the way I feel about you." Her eyes are welling up with tears and I am holding my breath; that is how much her words are affecting me. "You're the best choice I've ever made." She breathes. "We're both guilty." Elena smiles sadly, but the smile doesn't reach her eyes.

I say nothing, because I don't know how to respond to her. I still think that I should have been more careful, I should have thought everything through when I decided to stay with her, I knew all the risks, but I had to know her and when she said that I was the best choice she had ever made, I couldn't help but think that for me, she is also the best choice. And I guess there's no turning back now. What's done is done.

"Stefan, say something." Elena's voice breaks through my reverie.

"Aren't we a pair?" I offer her a small smile, which she returns.

"Yeah. I guess we are." She says and rests her head on my shoulder again.

Damon

When I barge through the door and enter the living room I discover Stefan and Elena sitting on Katherine's sofa. Stefan's arms are around her slender body and her head is on his shoulder although her face is completely concealed by her long hair. I feel a tinge of jealousy course through my body at the sight of those two, but I brush it quickly off and get right into the business.

"You two lovebirds over there." My voice breaks through the daze they apparently were in and I am met by Stefan's annoyed face.

"Time to get your shit together, we've got an archangel to kill." I take two long strides and perch myself on the armrest of the sofa, right next to the pair.

"Damon, don't…" Stefan warns me but I roll my eyes in response. Elena has also detached herself from my brother and is now looking at me with contempt.

"C'mon, guys it's been a week. Time to continue the show." I whine, impatient, my whole body is on fire with the expectation that maybe I'll finally get my revenge.

"Don't you have any tact, Damon?" Stefan asks, "She buried her brother a week ago." He clenches his fists, clearly angry. I am not surprised at all; he always has been the protective one. But what does surprise me, or rather who, is Elena.

"Damon's right." She says quietly, putting her hand over Stefan's fist, which immediately relaxes. "I can't believe I am saying this, but I think Damon's right." She repeats herself, earning incredulous looks both from me and Stefan.

"See?" I can't help but to gloat, "Your girlfriend thinks I'm right." I wiggle my eyebrows at her, but she only scoffs at the motion.

"Elena, you don't have to do this." Stefan's voice is gentle and concerned.

"I want him dead, Stefan. I want Klaus dead." She repeats her words from the night Jeremy died. "I want him to suffer the way he has made me suffer, the way he has made you two suffer." Her eyes dart from my face to Stefan's.

"Great!" I exclaim, happy that we're back in action.

"Wait a minute." Stefan interrupts, always the calm one, annoyingly so.

"Elena, you don't know what you're getting yourself into. Klaus is dangerous and we have no weapon to kill him and we have no allies. It's just us three." He glances at me, his green eyes filled with worry. Geez, Stefan should really loosen up a little, although I do understand his concern. Was it Katherine instead of Elena, I'd probably lock her up in a cellar and release her when all of this had passed.

"Yeah, I wonder what happened to Rebekah." I say my thoughts out aloud.

"I don't know." Stefan responds. "She helped me escape from Klaus, but what happened after that…" he pauses for a second, reliving the memory. "I guess it can't be good." Stefan finally concludes with a sigh.

"Too bad. I wanted to kill her myself after I had eliminated Klaus." For what she did to Katherine - I don't care if it was Klaus' orders - she deserved to die.

Stefan and Elena both shoot me a dirty look. God, they're so righteous it makes me want to puke, but I do need them, so I won't remark on that.

"So, what's the plan, oh warrior princess?" I ask, ignoring her death stare.

"I don't know." She says.

Of course she doesn't know. I roll my eyes again.

"But what I do know is that for now I have to lock my grief away." Elena grimaces. "And I will go through with everything, without your help or not." She looks Stefan straight into his eyes. "It's my choice."

Stefan nods, accepting her answer, but I can see that he doesn't like it.

"So where do we start?" I clap my hands together, excited to kick some archangel ass.

Please let me know what you think, even if it's bad. Your reviews keep me motivated and they give me ideas. I am forever thankful for them. Love you all! :)

Oh and I was asked where I got the idea for the prophecy thingy - well the simple answer is that I tend to read a lot of fantasy stories, where those kind of things pop up occasionally, and one night the idea just popped into my head for this story, so I decided to go with it. I know it's crazy and I am really hoping that I'll be able to pull it off.