It had been two weeks since Stephan had been released from the tomb. It had been a hard time; he had been overwhelmed by the information that had bombarded him. He was heartbroken over Elena and her ordeal and furious with Damon for probing her mind and all it entailed. But what he was most angry about was the consequences, Elena was no longer herself, every day ne noticed some word or mannerism that was from Damon.
This caused tension between them, though there was no reason to be angry at her, he knew it was not her doing.
Damon had disappeared the same day he had released Stefan from the tomb. There was no word from him of where he could be.
The days were getting harder for Elena, every day she could feel herself slipping farther away from herself and reality harder to deal with, now it was hard to distinguish between her memories and those of Damon.
Thoughts intruded on her almost constantly bombarding her with images.
She became withdrawn and refused to be around her friends and family, even isolating herself from Stefan in the end.
She began to refuse food, at this point her Aunt had started talking of getting her to the Dr. for depression meds. Her grades dropped strikingly.
Elena was a mess, she was spiraling down and there was nothing anyone could do to stop it. Bonnie tried every spell she could think of, done hours of research, all for nothing.
Caroline had tried to reverse the effect of Damon intrusion, but for it was far to advanced for an inexperienced vampire such as herself to attempt.
After a consultation it was decided that they had to reach Damon somehow and bring him back, if there was any hope if this being fixed it was with him. It was a slender hope at best but it was all they had to go on.
It was heart breaking to see Elena curled up in bed sobbing, clutching her head begging for the pain and images to stop.
As a final desperate measure to have more time they began to sedate Elena with stolen medication from the hospital.
It was a hard decision, but one they felt they had to make.
Stefan used every channel he knew to reach his brother, and then at last, someone said they had seen him in Kansas.
Stefan went in search for his brother, though not sure what he could hope to accomplish by bringing Damon to Elena.
But it was clear; if something was not done quickly Elena would die. She could not handle being assaulted with the memories and emotions all the time.
There were times when her emotions swung wildly; when it was evident she was not herself.
That it was Damon's emotions at the moment that she was responding to. That was when they had to start sedating her. She was in her room under guard all the time now, mostly asleep after she had her worst outburst.
That was why Stefan was going across the country to reach Damon.
Elena Gilbert was going insane.