Chapter Twelve
Smithereens
"I'm looking for Bonnie Bennett." Silas asked the attendant behind the cash register. After getting a ride on a bus, Silas had made it to Mystic Falls. He was currently outside the town border, looking for his first lead to the witch he needed.
"I don't know who that is." The young worker replied.
"Shame, that makes you only good for one thing." Silas said as he leaned over the counter.
"What's that?"
"Lunch." He smiled and then he violently pulled the young man down on the counter and sunk his fangs in his throat. The hot blood gushed down in several gulps and the young man's skin turned white and his body became lifeless. Silas pulled away and the body fell back, landing against the shelves. Silas sighed. "I guess I have to hide bodies in this century."
"Oh my god!" Silas heard a female scream. He turned and saw a young girl in the doorway of the gas station, staring straight at the dead body behind the counter. A clean expression of panic came over her face and she was about to run before Silas spoke.
"You're not afraid, you don't see a body, everything is normal." He said clearly, using his psychic powers. The young girl's reaction changed. Her scared face instantly turned back to a normal smile and she continued her path and grabbed a soda from the fridge.
"Hi, where's the owner?" The girl asked as she stood beside him at the counter.
"Don't know, must be on break." Silas grinned through his temporary face. "Do you happen to know Bonnie Bennett?"
"Yes, she goes to my school." She answered. With that information Silas moved on, leaving her alone with a corpse she couldn't see.
Stefan had easily found the address that would lead them to Katherine. He was glad he could get out of New York quickly. He always preferred the smaller towns over the giant noisy cities. Although the city offered a lot of distractions, Stefan kept his focus. He had been driving for over 24 hours now but after a lot of convincing from Rebekah they stopped at a motel for much needed rest. Rebekah was sleeping while Stefan sat outside on the stairs, looking up at the stars, sipping from a bottle of whiskey and thinking about his brother.
"Yep. This is happening, I'm gonna talk out loud to the night sky. Wherever you are Damon, it's not here." Stefan said sadly before taking a swig from the bottle. "I gotta say, I don't think I'll do great without you." He choked through a mild sob. "Elena is worse, I've never seen her like this before. She's broken without you, and I'm sure I will be too, brother." He sobbed out before his face scrunched up into anger and he threw the bottle across the car park.
Just like that time many decades ago, Stefan realized he couldn't live with his brother and to this day he still couldn't.
The weekend had passed and the girls were needed back at school but Elena's state hadn't changed. She was still staying at the boardinghouse, only leaving his bedroom to gather more blood bags, she had passed on normal food, socializing and even showering. She had built a nest of grief on his bed, surrounding herself with his books, clothes and other possessions. She had spent the last few days reading the books that he kept beside his bed and was surprised when a Polaroid photo fell out of a copy of Moby Dick. It was an old picture of Damon with his arm around another guy she didn't recognize.
Elena was suddenly saddened when she realized they hadn't taken a picture together during their brief romance. Her phone had plenty of pictures of her with her friends but not one couple photo of her and Damon. She fell into another sob, clutching the photo of him to her chest.
"A united front, remember?" Caroline said as her and Bonnie entered the boardinghouse on Sunday evening, determined to get Elena back to her life and ready for school tomorrow.
"I'm with you, Care." The witch replied. They both walked side by side and entered Damon's bedroom. They found a curled up Elena, silently sobbing.
"She's still crying." Bonnie whispered.
"Yeah." Caroline replied simply as she approached Elena.
"Elena." Caroline started. Elena's wet, squeezed eyes opened up and she found her two best friends looking at her with soft, concerning expressions.
"What..?" Elena choked out in a broken voice. It was the first word that passed her lips in days.
"Elena, you need to get back to your life." The blonde vampire replied as she placed a hand on her shoulder.
"No!" Elena said firmly as she curled her body up more and snuggled her face into his pillow.
"You need to get up and clean yourself, Elena." She pushed but Elena ignored her. Bonnie moved in closer and sat next to her friend as tried a different angle.
"Damon wouldn't want this for you, Elena." She said gently. "He would want you to find the strength to continue on." Those words only made Elena sob more. "Tell me about him." Bonnie asked and Elena looked up at her with glistening eyes. "Tell me why you love him." Caroline gave Bonnie a weird look but remained silent, maybe this could work. Elena wiped away some tears and sniffled twice before replying to Bonnie.
"He's always...been there for me..when I needed him." Elena answered.
"I know." Bonnie replied as she stroked her friend's arm.
"Even when I hated him, he stayed, kept me safe." She said through fresh tears. "He always put me first, even before himself. He's so selfless." She cried as she clutched her chest.
"Damon, selfless?" Caroline chimed in with a shocked tone. Both Bonnie and Elena gave her a stern look telling her to keep her opinions to herself. Caroline understood and apologized instantly. "Sorry."
"He defended Stefan many times when we were on the outs, even though it hurt him." Elena continued as she recalled the incredible moment Damon returned her necklace on her 18th birthday.
The very moment she realized she loved him.
"I didn't know that." Caroline said softly.
"Of course not!" Elena spat a little too harshly. She recoiled away and curled back up under Damon's sheets and leather jacket.
"You need to get up and shower, Elena. We have school tomorrow." Caroline tried, but Elena didn't respond with anything. Bonnie realized that talking about Damon was the only thing that was reaching her, everything else, she didn't care about.
"What was your first date like? Tell us what you did with him." Bonnie asked and Elena's glazed-over eyes came back to Bonnie's. Bonnie held hand and gave her a small smile, waiting for her to speak.
"He likes wine." Elena mumbled.
"Really? That's…girly." Bonnie teased and she saw the faintest smile come over Elena. "I'm gonna tease him about that later." The young witch added. As soon as Bonnie heard herself say those words, she realized she was going to try and find a way to bring Damon back. They're had to be a way.
It was the only way to bring the light back into Elena's heart.
"What do you mean by that Bonnie?" Caroline asked. Bonnie turned to look at the blonde, giving her a straight look and then returned her gaze to Elena.
"I'm going to try my best to find a way to bring him back to you, Elena." Bonnie promised. Elena's brown eyes twinkled with a little bit of hope and gratefulness. She wanted to cry for a different reason now. She crawled out of her Damon shroud and placed her head in Bonnie's lap and began shaking with a sob. She tightened her arms around her waist and murmured out a thank you.
"How are you gonna do that, Bon?" Caroline asked in a concerned tone.
"Shane said Silas was going to bring people back, so there must be a way."
"That sounds risky."
"I know Care, but I'll do it for Elena." Bonnie defended as she stroked her friend's hair.
"Do you even know if Damon is on the other side?" Caroline asked both girls.
"I don't know, but we can ask Jeremy." Bonnie suggested. Elena heard her idea and couldn't believe she didn't think of it earlier. Jeremy can talk with the Alaric, so why not Damon?
"Jere." Elena let out a shaky voice as she managed to pull herself up on her elbows.
"Yeah. How about you shower here and we go see him." Bonnie suggested. Elena couldn't smile but she nodded.
Elena sat down on the floor of the shower and clutched her arms around her knees and pulled them against her chest. The hot water of the shower easily washed away the salty tears, but it didn't stop them from flowing. For a moment the tears stilled as she remembered the last time she showered here. It was the morning after their first night together. When they took turns washing each other before she enjoyed shower sex for the first time. Damon loved so passionately and she was missing it so much.
Now there was a hopeful chance that she could speak to Damon from beyond the grave.
The three girls drove over to the Gilbert house and found Jeremy hanging out with Matt.
"Elena." Both Matt and Jeremy said gingerly as they saw her enter her house. Jeremy's expression turned sad when he took in his sister's broken appearance. She looked nothing like herself. Messy hair, no make up, no smile, hollow eyes and she was wearing a leather jacket that was too big for her.
"Hey Matt, could we have a moment with Jeremy?" Caroline asked as they stepped into the living room, Bonnie holding Elena to her side.
"Yeah, of course. I need to be at work soon anyway." Matt replied as he stood up and gave Elena a sympathetic look. The three girls sat down with Jeremy and he was surprised when it was Elena that spoke first.
"Have you seen him?" Elena asked in a broken voice without looking up.
"Who?" Jeremy asked, but he instantly regretted it. "Damon?" Bonnie nodded for her.
"Elena needs to talk to him." Bonnie said, still holding Elena in a one arm hug.
"I haven't seen him since…" Jeremy trailed off, not wanting to mention Damon's death.
"Is he over there, Jere?" Elena asked desperately, looking up at him with watery eyes.
"I don't know, but it's just like seeing Ric. I need to be thinking about him at the same time he thinks about me." He explained.
"Well, think about him!" Bonnie ordered lightly. "I have no doubt Damon would be looking over her if he was over there."
"I'll try." Jeremy said before looking around the rooms he could see. His face became crestfallen when he couldn't see Damon and all three girls noticed. Elena looked back down at her lap and began sniffling a sob.
"He's not here.." She mumbled as fresh tears filled her eyelashes and her body sunk into Bonnie's arms.
"I'm sorry, Elena. I don't know where he is." He apologized as he knelt down in front of her. "His last words were about you. He said he loved you." Jeremy added, hoping to make her feel better but instead she broke into a teary cry.
-Meanwhile, on the Other Side-
"Are you gonna tell me who you are? I kind of need to know if you want my trust." Damon asked as he brushed off the dirt on his jacket. "I'm hoping you're not a werewolf, last time I was here, I was led into a trap by one." Damon said as he followed the stranger through the tunnels underneath Mystic Falls.
"I understand you learnt the origin of the first vampires because of that." He replied without looking back. The stranger walked through the tunnels with ease, it was like he had been many times before. He ran hand over the rough stone walls as they traveled underneath the Lockwood property, looking for something.
"The fact that you know that creeps me out more." Damon admitted as he kept his pace. The stranger remained quiet as he slowed down and pressed both hands onto a flat stone surface. "What are you even looking for down here?"
"Before I send you back, I need to know if it's here." He replied mysteriously.
"What's here? I've been over these tunnels many times, there's nothing."
"Just because you couldn't see it, doesn't mean it isn't there."
"Wow, you talk the same way you dress." Damon quipped.
"I told you, it's a robe." The stranger replied before stopping at the two prong fork in the tunnel. A strange expression came over his features as he turned around, observing the walls.
"Lost?" Damon smirked. "Left will take you to the town center, right is a dead end."
"What about this one?" He countered as he stepped to a small section of the wall. Damon only gave him a confused look, it didn't look like a boarded up passageway, it was natural stone and dirt. Damon kept watching as the stranger pressed both palms to the wall and closed his eyes. Suddenly he heard a growl from the ground beneath him and it started rumbling. The walls started shaking, displacing small stones and dirt, slightly clouding the air in the tunnels. Damon grasped the wall, steadying his balance, but he kept watching as the wall the stranger was touching broke away into ash-like debris. The shaking earth suddenly stopped, the dirt started settling and the stranger stepped into the new chamber that was darker than normal. Damon didn't hesitate to follow, but the stranger vanished into the inkiness and Damon was stopped when he hit an invisible barrier at the wall.
"I hope you don't need me in there with you." Damon shouted into the darkness but he didn't get a reply.
as he waited, Damon reflected back on what he saw. The way the stranger opened the passage reminded him of Bonnie.
Maybe this guy was a witch?
"Hello?" Damon called out, but he was then suddenly startled when the possible witch appeared right in front of him and he was frowning.
"Time to send you back." He said directly as he stepped back into the tunnel.
"I'm dying to go back but do you have to be so cryptic about everything?"
"I'll answer one of your questions." Without thinking about it for a second Damon impulsively asked who he is. "My name is Izmortial."
"Huh, sounds biblical." Damon huffed. "What are you?"
"Only one question, Damon." He said plainly. Damon regretted asking who because what was more important, trusting a witch wasn't easy. Damon wanted nothing more than to get back to Elena but he had to ask.
"Why me? Why send me back? They would be better off if you sent Ric instead."
"That's another question." Izmortial said with a hint of a chuckle.
"Geez, you're more annoying than Klaus." Damon replied.
"Let's send you back then before I annoy you more." He huffed. "We'll see each other again, Damon."
"He said cryptically." Damon said sardonically. "I hope you stop by at a tailor's before then." He smirked. Izmortial only shook his head and then stepped in front of Damon and grasped one of his shoulders with his hand. "You're not hugging me goodbye, are you?"
"Be silent." Izmortial said, clearly not amused. He closed his eyes and Damon began feeling strange and the tunnels began fading away. Damon's body was feeling boneless, like when you go to bed after a hot bath. His muscles were achingly relaxed and he was unable to move. The dimly lit tunnels changed and became highlighted in a blue haze. Damon saw the stranger's eyes open suddenly just before everything disappeared. The boneless feeling changed to a piercing pain in his chest and then the blue light went to complete black.
He couldn't feel or see anything anymore.
He could only hear himself breathing. But after a moment he could smell mud and some kind of plant life. Then he heard the sound of chirping crickets and a buzzing sound of some kind of flying insect above his head. Damon's eyes adjusted slowly. It was still dark, but not completely. The foggy green color was gone and it was replaced with a pale grayish white light. Damon rolled over onto his back and found a comforting sight. It was a clear night sky with stars and a gray half moon that cascaded light over the field. The comforting feeling told him he was back in the real world.
It didn't take much longer, but Damon realized he was laying in a cornfield, which was a worry because Mystic Falls didn't have a farm that harvested corn. But there was a more urgent worry when Damon felt something missing from his hand. He didn't have his daylight ring. He quickly stood up, brushing away the dirt and vegetation. He was glad he was back, but his heart was filled with a panic. He had no idea where he was or how far he was from Mystic Falls and he was lost in a field with no protection from the sun. Only moving at night time would delay his return but he would return regardless, he just had to be clever and careful.
Finding out where he was his first priority, finding a phone was his second. He wanted to call Elena, tell her he was back so she wouldn't be broken anymore. He would want to call Stefan too. Damon hadn't seen his brother since he left the town with Rebekah which was another worry. He listened carefully for any traffic sounds or other people, but only got the natural sounds of a growing crop.
Elena.
Determined to see, hug, kiss and be with her again, Damon blurred off in a random direction, seeking civilization.
"Are we seriously going to stake out a post office?" Rebekah complained as she fidgeted her paper cup of coffee while sitting in a café with Stefan.
"It's our only play, Katherine has compelled everyone here." Stefan explained.
"She won't show up, she'll just send a mail lackey." She snorted.
"It's our only option, unless you want to speed around the entire town looking for her." He said as he took a sip from his hot beverage. Stefan kept his eyes fixed to the post office entrance, but his mind was somewhere else. He was thinking about everyone back home and how they were dealing, most importantly, Elena. Even knowing she had Caroline, Bonnie, Matt and her brother to be there for her, he was still worried that she would do something regrettable. Like hurting someone or turning it all off.
"Was my brother right?" Rebekah asked, breaking his train of thought.
"What?"
"About Elena, are you just waiting a few more days before you're back to chasing her?" She said with snark masking jealousy. Stefan broke away his eyes and gave her a furious stare.
"You lost a brother not long ago so you know exactly how I feel right now." He said roughly with a furrowed brow.
"You're right. I understand how you feel, but I'm curious. I want to know if you're foolish enough to go back to her." The Original murmured as she pushed away her drink.
"I love her, but that's not important right now." He said as he returned his gaze back to the shop.
"I'm sure she'll get over Damon quickly." She said sarcastically.
"Shut up!" Stefan snapped.
"Hit a nerve?"
"No, shut up and look." He ordered as he gestured his cup out the window. Rebekah followed his motion and saw Elena's doppelgänger walking towards the post office.
"No way." Rebekah said in disbelief.
"Time to get the cure and avenge my brother." Stefan said confidently as he stood up and watched Katherine go inside.
"Do you remember that vision you had last year when you touched me?" Elena softly asked Bonnie as they sat on her bed together.
"The one with the man and the crow?" Bonnie answered.
"Yeah, It was about Damon. He told me on our date he could control crows."
"Seriously?" Bonnie asked with raised eyebrows. Bonnie almost laughed at the visual of Damon chasing and trying to catch a black chicken over a field of grass.
"Yeah." Elena nodded. "You said it was just the beginning?" She paused. "Did you know we would fall in love before we did?"
"Not back then, but I've been noticing small moments." Bonnie admitted.
"Really?"
"Well, you did beg me not to burn him to death." Bonnie chuckled. "But when you said he was a good kisser..." She trailed off with a cheeky smile.
"I didn't say it, you implied it." Elena chuckled back as she remembered the conversation they had in Bonnie's car about her porch kiss with Damon.
"But it was good, right?" She repeated.
"Yes, it was and we have happily recreated that moment a few times."
"And all that flirting at the Grill.." Bonnie added. Elena wanted to smile back but she heard Caroline talking to Jeremy downstairs. She heard the words Damon's funeral and her mood changed instantly, her face scrunched up with anger. "What's wrong?" Bonnie asked in a concerned tone. Elena didn't answer, she only got up and stormed out of her room.
"Did Elena leave?" Caroline asked Jeremy as she walked back to the Gilbert house.
"No, Bonnie took her to her room. They were talking about Damon."
"Yeah." Caroline huffed. "She's like a zombie unless you mention Damon."
"I know you didn't like Damon, Caroline, but you need to be more sensitive. My sister is in pain."
"I am, but I'm also being realistic, she needs to process her grief in a healthy way." She explained.
"What do you suggest?" Jeremy asked, as he rubbed his forehead.
"A funeral would be ideal, but Stefan said I couldn't." She groaned as she fell onto the couch. "We can't bury him without him here."
"Maybe we can have one without the burial part." Jeremy offered.
"What do you mean?"
"Next weekend we could go to the Salvatore crypt and say things about him. Elena would want to hear it." He explained as he sat down across from her.
"Not a bad idea." Caroline replied. "I'll have to think of something nice to say about him before then." She said nastily.
"No!" Elena's loud voice came from the staircase. They didn't realize she was able to hear everything from her room.
"Elena.." Jeremy said in a soft voice as he watched his sister storm down the stairs with an angry expression on her features.
"We have an idea, Elena." Caroline said, ignoring her friends fuming state.
"No, I've heard enough already." Elena spat as she stood in front of Caroline.
"You need it, Elena." Caroline pressed as she got to her feet and squared off with Elena. "Even if we have to drag you there." She added, losing her patience.
"I like to see you try." Elena said in a tone that was darker than her usual self.
"I'm older than you, Elena." Caroline replied with an equally angry face. Elena's rage boiled up so much she wanted to hurt her friend. Hurt her badly. She didn't want to feel like this, it was scary and dangerous, she just wanted to go back and crawl into her Damon nest. Elena took a calming breath and bit back her anger.
"You would understand how I feel if Tyler was dead." Elena said firmly with narrowed eyes. "But maybe not, because Damon always puts me first." She finished, leaving Caroline speechless. Elena turned and gave Bonnie a thankful look before leaving the house and returning back to Damon's room at the boardinghouse.
She sipped half a bag of blood before dressing into one of his black shirts and nestled into his bed, clutching his pillow. She fell asleep after reflecting over their memories together. A small precious giggle passed her lips as she remembered the time she had to invite Damon in the boarding house when they signed the deed over to her. Their natural playful banter was one of the best things she loved about their relationship because it was there before they loved each other. Elena fell asleep reliving their early memories then dreamt about their romantic ones.