Chapter Text
Damon sat on the hood of his car with a bottle in his hand, watching over the town that he was currently banned from. He was getting ready to take the biggest hail mary in the history of hail marys. It was funny. A few years ago he would never have thought of himself as a hero. Hell, he still didn’t think of himself as a hero, but here he was. About to heroically kill himself to save the town on the off chance he might make it back. It wasn’t just about saving the town though. It was about saving Stefan, and Enzo, Tyler, Ric. All those loses that kept piling up and this was a chance to get them all back and even if it cost his own miserable life, it would be worth it.
When he got the text from Liz, he drained the last of the bottle. At least he wouldn’t be going through this sober. He got in the car and started it up, just for the door to open and Elena to jump in. “What the hell are you doing?”
“You said to respect your choice. And I did. Now you can respect mine,” she said firmly. There was no way in hell that he was doing this without her. No matter how rocky their road, her place was by his side. Now and forever. If they died it would be together and if they came back that would be together too.
“Whoa. No, no. That’s not how this works, Elena,” Damon shook his head. The whole point of him doing this was to save her as much as anyone. He wasn’t going to take her right into it. “The second we cross that border, you’re gonna feel /everything/. You’re gonna drown all over again. It’s gonna take you back to the night you died a human.” He couldn’t let her go through that.
“I know what I signed up for, Damon. And I’m all in,” she told him, meaning far more than this trip. Far more than this one moment of sacrifice. She just hoped he realized that. Judging by the way he was looking at her, he got it though. That didn’t mean they had time for this whole conversation right now though. “What are you staring at? Drive,” she prodded.
Damon gave her a smirk that said so much and she returned it, completely understanding every unspoken word. Every word that he couldn’t even begin to put voice too even if they had forever. God, but he loved her so much. As much as he wished he could protect her from this, having her here by his side meant everything. He gunned the engine and high-tailed it over the border as fast as he could. They only had one chance to get there before they actually died and who knew if they would even make it in time. When Elena started choking as her lungs filled up with water he cursed and hit the gas harder. “Come on…” he coaxed the car. Why couldn’t these stupid things go any faster?
“Damon, I…” Elena tried to say, but couldn’t.
“I know,” Damon assured her. She loved him. Just as much as he loved her. He didn’t need to hear the words. He knew down to his bones. “I know,” he said again as he reached out and took her hand during the final push. They both clung to each other and closed their eyes as they careened straight for the building.
The next thing Elena knew she wasn’t far from Bonnie and she ran up to her as Bonnie asked, “Did it work? Are you…”
“Yeah,” she nodded, adrenaline still rushing through her system. “Did Damon…”
“Right here,” Damon said as he strolled up.
“Okay, when you guys pass through me, you’re going to wake up with your bodies on the other side. I need you to get back here as soon as you can,” Bonnie told them, waiting until they both agreed before she grabbed them and sent them to the other side.
Elena appeared next to her body and was caught off guard by the gruesome sight for a minute, until she was distracted by a familiar voice. “Did you seriously wear your seatbelt?” Ric asked amusedly. Leave it to Elena to be headed for an intentional fiery explosion and still wear a seatbelt.
“Oh my god,” Elena sighed happily. “Alaric, what are you…”
“Come on,” he interrupted her. “You gotta go.”
“But…wait…what about Damon? I need to find him,” Elena realized, looking around. He obviously hadn’t worn his seatbelt and was thrown from the car.
“No, you need to go home to your brother. I’ll find Damon,” Ric promised.
“I can’t,” she shook her head.
“No, go on. Elena, get out of here,” Ric told her.
“No,” she said firmly. She and Damon had come this far together. She wasn’t leaving without him now. Period. “No, you go. Jeremy needs you. I’ll find Damon and we’ll be right behind you.”
“Elena…”
“We don’t have time to argue, Ric,” Elena snapped. “I’m not going. Not without him.”
“Fine. Come on,” Ric said, realizing that she was right. He had a pretty good idea of where Damon ended up. He’d been watching the whole thing. They found Damon trying to lift a beam off the sheriff and rushed over to help. Ric helped him lift the beam and Elena shoved a box under it to hold it up, knowing that there wasn’t anything more they could do from this side. “Friendly advice,” Ric said with a smirk to Damon. “When you finally get the girl…don’t blow her up.”
Damon and Elena both laughed at that. “Good to see you too, buddy,” Damon said relieved.
“Come on. We need to hurry,” Elena said. They could have the reunion once they were through all this.
“She’s right,” Ric said clapping a hand on Damon’s shoulder. “Let’s go.”
Damon nodded and rushed after them as they all ran towards the graveyard as fast as they could, which was pretty fast at vamp speeds. Ric was faster, being older than Elena and Damon was keeping back at Elena’s pace. Bonnie wasn’t wasting any more time. The second Ric was close enough, she reached out to grab him, pulling him back through. She knew she was cutting it close, but there Damon and Elena were. Damon pushed Elena forward first, like Bonnie wouldn’t have made the same choice, but when she grabbed Elena, nothing happened. “No…” she said sadly. “No, no, no.” She tried again, but still nothing. She even tried Damon, just to see, but that didn’t work either. She moved her consciousness back to the living world and rushed into the crypt only to find Liv gone. “No, Damnit!”
“Bonnie! Where are Damon and Elena?” Stefan asked fearfully.
“I couldn’t get them. They were there, but the spell…”
“Then we’ll find them. We’ll start the spell again,” Stefan argued.
“We can’t. That was our one shot,” Bonnie said sadly.
“No,” Stefan shook his head in denial. “NO!” he yelled punching the wall.
“I’m sorry. It’s too late,” Bonnie said before looking behind her. “They’re here if you want to say goodbye.” She walked out to leave them alone.
“Damon? Elena?” Stefan asked, feeling like an idiot for talking to an empty room, but then he felt a hand on his shoulder that could only belong to his brother and a brush against his cheek that must have been Elena. “This isn’t the way it should be,” Stefan said brokenly. “It’s not supposed to be me back here. It should be you two. You shouldn’t have come after me, Damon.”
“You’re my little brother Stefan. How could I not?” Damon said.
“And how the hell could you let Elena go with you?” he asked.
“Like he could have stopped me,” Elena sniffled, leaning her forehead against Stefan’s.
“At least if there’s one good thing, it’s that you’re together. I don’t know that either of you could survive without the other. I just wish I knew what was going to happen to you when the other side collapses. If you’ll stay together wherever you go…I’m so sorry. I love you both,” Stefan said with a sniffle as his tears started to fall. “You should be here too. I’m sorry.”
“I wish he could hear us,” Elena sighed sadly, leaning against Damon.
“Me too,” Damon told her, pressing a kiss to her head as the ground shook again. “We need to get to Bonnie.”
Elena nodded and they both headed out. When they got to Bonnie, Elena grabbed both of their hands tightly. “Don’t let go. Whatever happens…wherever we go…we go together,” she said.
“Together,” both Bonnie and Damon agreed, holding her as tightly as she was holding them.
As the wind picked up and the shaking got worse, Damon asked, “This place is going down isn’t it?”
She didn’t respond to the, quite franky rather stupid question and asked one of her own. “Do you think it’ll hurt?” Before anyone could answer, there was a bright flash of light and they knew no more.