Chapter Text
Damon stormed into his room, slamming the door behind him before suddenly stopping- he knew that smell. He’d spent three interminable months breathing in that earthy mix of sage and lavender, complaining constantly about the “eau de potpourri” that wafted gently after Bonnie wherever she went. After four months without it, it was the best thing he’d ever smelled. Ever since the insufferable little martyr had sent him back, he’d been looking for a way to break her out with no success. It was a good distraction from the little psychopath Kai roaming around...and the simmering rage that threatened to overwhelm him every time he thought about the fact that Elena had chosen to forget him. To give up all their memories as though they meant nothing. The scooby gang insisted she’d done it out of desperation, that she’d missed him so much, so violently , that forgetting had been the only way to save herself. Damon wasn’t sure if that mildly flattering thought was enough to make him forget that she gave up on him. He’d waited over a century for a backstabbing bitch and Elena, his true love, couldn’t even wait till Christmas.
Damon refocused, trying to determine the source of the scent, pointedly ignoring the memory of the last time he’d smelled Bonnie in his bedroom. He identified the culprit lying on the bed, his own grey and white checkered flannel that the little witch had stolen from him and had been left with her in 1994. Damon’s head shot around, as though Bonnie would suddenly appear. It made just as much sense as this flannel doing just that. When she failed to materialize, he got closer to the shirt and saw a note pinned to the front, just barely covering a shoddily wrapped package. He also finally noticed what wasn’t on his bed- Ms. Cuddles. Not daring to believe what now seemed obvious, he opened the letter:
Damon,
I kept planning ways to announce my big return. Surprising Elena at our dorm. Waiting outside the café with Caroline’s favorite latte. Walking into Matt at the Grill. Jeremy...hmm I never figured out the best place to see him. But for you it was easy. For my psycho vampire nemesis...and the person I improbably wanted to see the most, I’d be in this kitchen, with a big stack of pancakes waiting. I’m actually great at pancakes by the way. I never shared that fact in the prison world because, let’s be real, you were mostly an asshole and never deserved it. But just this once, I’d grace you with my Bennett baking.
But I got back to Mystic Falls and I just felt...tired. I’ve died here- twice- and I’m barely 20. I’ve bled for my friends, lost my family for my friends, and in the end- I still had to save myself. I know you tried, and that means the world to me, but I think I’ve learned my lesson. I can’t give everything of myself for this town and the people in it. I’ve been here for a week you know- and my best friends in the world didn’t really seem to care that I was gone. Oh they were sad, but they’d accepted it. Another death to be mourned and move past. I’m not the one they turn the world upside down to save.
I saw how hard you were trying, heard all the plans you were making, but why was it just you? Why was my ~mortal enemy~ working harder to get me back than the girls I’ve known since I was 5?
This is my 3rd chance at life, and I think it may be my last. Kai is still on the loose and once he knows I’m here and alive, there will be another target on my back. I don’t intend to be here waiting for him. So I’m leaving, I don’t know if or when I’ll return, but I need to take care of myself. It’s been too long since someone has.
P.S Thank you for taking care of Ms. Cuddles
P.P.S Use them carefully- She doesn’t remember now but I know you’ll get her back. This is what she wants and...it’s true love right?
Damon stared at the note in disbelief. Leaving? Bonnie Bennett? Trusty, reliable Bonnie was abandoning her friends? His first instinct was that this was some kind of sick forgery, his Bon Bon would never leave her friends behind...leave him. They may have had a rough history but the prison world had brought them closer. She was his friend, the other side of the indescribable bond that forms when you’re trapped in the fox hole together with only each other to keep you sane. And for one brief drunken night, before reality sunk back in, it seemed like she could be more. He shook his head, banishing the thought. It was a low moment for both of them- before Kai had incensed Bonnie into unlocking her magic and revealed there was a way out after all. After that, their unspoken vow to never mention it again had gone into effect.
He started to unwrap the lumpy oval thing, gentling his hands when he heard clinking. He removed the final wrapping and revealed two identical tubes of blood-red liquid- the Cure. And two vials of it. “This is what she wants”- Elena of course. The thing she wanted more than anything else, her humanity. Damon huffed a laugh to himself, of course Bonnie couldn’t leave without performing one last selfless miracle. That, more than anything, convinced Damon the letter was real after all, his denial slipping away.
Damon lifted his flannel to his face, taking in the scent of his judgy little witch. He smiled before talking out loud to the empty room, “You can run Bon-Bon, go off and find yourself, but I’ll find you too.”