Vampire Diaries 1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note**

S'up guys? Life's been eating me alive for a while, and so I haven't exactly had much time to devote to my multi-chaptered fic. Instead, I've been working on smaller one-shots (or in this case, depending on time, maybe a two-shot). Timeline wise, this fic takes place post-S5 for TVD (and it has plenty of sneak peeks at the future for those that have enjoyed my other TVD AU fics). While the Raven's Path isn't original to TVD, I don't own it either - this incarnation's unique to Spooksville, and the concept's lovingly used here for a story.

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**Talking to the Dead**

Six months ago, if someone had told Stefan that he had resorted to séances, Stefan wouldn't have believed them. Back in the 90's, when he and Damon had briefly met in Seattle, he had promised (albeit in his mind) that he would never resort to summoning the dead, even if it was their last hope.

"The whole idea's so stupid," Damon had said, after one too many glasses of bourbon. "Why would you call back a dead person if you can't even guarantee they'd appear?"

At the time, Stefan had suspected that Damon was just bitter that Katherine hadn't risen from beyond the grave. The woman Damon loved would never fall into his arms, just as the woman who ruined Stefan's life would never fulfill her schemes. He should have said something then, about giving the dead their space, but his voice refused to cooperate. Just like now, when he and Jeremy were sitting in the Salvatore Manor's library, their backs hunched over as they researched anything – and everything – about the afterlife. Without the Other Side, Stefan wasn't certain of the ripple effects.

"Looks like things returned to what they're supposed to be," Jeremy had said bitterly, the dark circles around his eyes more visible than ever.

The kid's guilt had gnawed ferociously at his heart, threatening to encompass every waking moment. If it wouldn't make Stefan a hypocrite, he would have suggested therapy. Jeremy's survivor guilt was almost as bad as Elena's these days. Speaking of Elena…

Stefan involuntarily glanced up at her bedroom. "How's your sister holding up?"

"Not sure." Jeremy's voice was unusually icy as he reached for another book. They must've fought over Damon again, for him to not give a damn at this hour. "She'll be fine after a chipmunk or two."

"Like Joe…" The words escaped Stefan's lips faster than he could take them back.

Jeremy ever-so-slightly tilted his head. "Huh?"

"Nevermind. It's not important." Stefan shook his head fondly, returning back to his book. This one was particularly morbid – it discussed séances, or conversations with the dead, and how non-witches could communicate with them despite their lack of magic. "Jer, can you still communicate with the Other Side?"

Jeremy shook his head. "First thing I tried. I can't feel _anything_ anymore. It's… it's like what Bonnie said when she became the Anchor. This whole other part of me's been ripped away, and I feel weird without it." A year and a half ago, that idea would've been laughable. Now, it just felt melancholic.

Stefan stood up, turning towards the kitchen. "I've got some coffee if you—"

"I'm fine, thanks." Jeremy flipped the page, burying himself in his research. "Stef, what would you think about a séance? To talk to Bonnie… and Damon, I guess?"

"I'd think it was pretty stupid. We already know your rings don't work," Stefan pointed out. Jeremy meant no disrespect. Out of the entire Mystic Falls crew, only he and Stefan wanted to resurrect Bonnie and Damon to the land of the living.

Elena had cooped herself up in her bedroom, leaving only to feed on helpless humans (and chipmunks); Caroline and Tyler had fled to Tennessee to escape the doom-and-gloom that had permeated this town; and Matt had left to establish a life with Rebekah and the baby girl she had adopted. ("I'm going to be a father," Matt had confessed, as he had packed up the last of his things for the big move. "Or a really cool uncle. I'm not sure yet.") Alaric had resumed his job at Mystic Falls High, burying himself in his schoolwork and new research papers for various academic publications, while Enzo wandered the streets as the town's newest bartender. Without Bonnie, their motley crew had little reason to stay together.

Sure, they all rallied around Elena, ostensibly to protect her. Bonnie, though, was the level-headed one who casted a spell and made bad guys disappear. She singlehandedly defeated vampires; she wielded enough power for a small army; and she cherished every single one of them. Stefan hadn't thanked her enough when she was around, and he sure as hell regretted every moment of it. She just – she reminded him so much of his Amelia, with her spark and ambition to change the world (if only through magic). The Bennett line had shared so, so much more than just their connection with nature.

Without her and Damon, Stefan and Jeremy had lost their motivation to move forward. When Stefan had forced Damon through the transition, he had thought only of keeping his older brother alive. They were family, dammit, and like Elena's favorite movie said, family meant that no one was left behind – or forgotten. Stefan's empty footsteps no longer echoed Damon's shadow; Jeremy no longer had crazy Bonnie stories to tell. Every time someone brought her up, Stefan's sentences became forced and clipped, while Jeremy would awkwardly look to the sky and furiously blink back tears.

No matter how much Stefan missed Damon, no matter how much he wanted to hear his stupid brother's voice… Stefan wouldn't stoop low enough to perform a séance. Not when the last one in Mystic Falls had ended with Invasion of the Body Snatchers.

Jeremy frowned, his fingers resting on a passage. "What about this? My book talks about the Raven's Path, which lies between worlds. If the Other Side crumbled, maybe Bonnie and Damon fell in the cracks and ended up in another dimension."

He was practically reeking of desperation. Other dimensions? Parallel worlds? In their Mystic Falls? That was the realm of time travelers, and Stefan was pretty sure time travel didn't exist yet.

"How on Earth would we retrieve them?" Stefan asked, his curiosity piqued despite it all.

Jeremy held up the book. "There's this gem called the Raven's Eye. I've seen it before – though I'm not sure where – and if we use it, we could theoretically retrieve them using us as an anchor of sorts."

"So we're going to need a gem and a witch," Stefan said slowly, folding his arms. After the whole fiasco with Liz and Luke, he couldn't rely on them again. (He couldn't blame them either, considering Caroline snapped Luke's neck.)

At least the gem looked familiar. He recognized that faint red glow and its smooth surface. Mom had had a necklace like it a long time ago, and although Damon had sworn he would give it to his bride, Damon had never gotten the chance. If his brother still hoarded old and mystical family heirlooms like no tomorrow, the gem would undoubtedly be in Damon's room.

"Not quite. If we can find the Raven's Statue, then we can just insert the gem into its eye and activate the path." Jeremy glanced up, watching as Stefan ascended the stairs. "Where're you going?"

"I think I have the gem," Stefan replied, vaguely gesturing towards Damon's room. "Or something close enough to it. See if you can find the statue's location – if not, we'll have to call a witch."

Like anyone would willingly come to their aid, to talk to two dead people who (in most people's minds) should probably stay that way. At this point, Stefan was close to his wit's end. If this Raven's Path didn't work, then he would take a break and visit Caroline. She had insisted on driving him down to Knoxville, but Stefan had refused. Mystic Falls, for better or for worse, was his home, and he would leave only when it no longer welcomed him.

Damon's room was quiet. Stefan hadn't touched it in the past few months. All things considered, his older brother would've been proud of how neat and organized everything remained. His wardrobe was still in pristine condition – and of course, his accessories were color-coded. (Stefan suspected he'd be a dead man if he ever pointed this out to Elena.)

Carefully, Stefan opened the top drawer and rummaged through Damon's accessories, stopping only when he discovered a small, black pouch in the corner. He held it in his hands, opening it carefully and pulling out a necklace encrusted with a faint red gem in the middle. Holding it up to the light, Stefan could see the resemblance to the Raven's Eye Jeremy had read about.

As he closed Damon's wardrobe, Stefan pocketed the jewel and focused on the task ahead of them. The Raven's Eye – or a close duplicate of it – had been easy enough to acquire. Locating the statue, on the other hand, would be more difficult. Stefan had never heard of such a statue, nor had he ever heard of the Path prior to Jeremy's grand idea. Plus, if it didn't exist, they'd have to locate someone magically gifted – and that would be a massive undertaking.

"Stefan! The statue's in the next town over," Jeremy called, amidst the sounds of books rustling. "Which works out better for us, since, you know, Mystic Falls doesn't have a supernatural presence anymore."

Without the mystical energy that permeated Mystic Falls, a spell like this wasn't guaranteed to work. Stefan rushed to him, snagging the grimoire Jeremy had borrowed from Bonnie's home and tucking it in his messenger bag. "How far do you think it'll be?"

"Should be an hour's drive." Jeremy shrugged, hastily stuffing his backpack to the brim with every single remotely supernatural-looking object he could find. "I was thinking, we could grab dinner to go?"

Stefan rolled his eyes. "I can hunt there, if it's not near the city."

"Nah, it's in their town cemetery." Jeremy pressed his lips together, holding the door for Stefan as they headed outside and towards Stefan's car. "The sooner we look at this, the sooner we can see if it's a viable option, right?"

Sometimes, Stefan wondered how he had easily agreed to this. He didn't pride himself on chasing ghosts, especially when supernatural purgatory had ceased to exist. He couldn't even say that Jeremy had a compelling argument, because the kid _didn't_. In a few weeks, Jeremy would leave for college (he had gotten into SCAD), and this whole venture – if it didn't work – would be meaningless.

As he drove them to the next town, he glanced over at Jeremy. The kid was pensive, glancing out the window at the zooming scenery. Jeremy had never been particularly hard to read, even at his least talkative. Yet Stefan couldn't discern his thoughts. Maybe Stefan was worried enough for the both of them, and Jeremy could lead the way as they traversed the Path.

They reached the cemetery in record time, hastened by Stefan's sudden craving for deer. As Stefan climbed out of the car and sprinted for the woods, he could hear Jeremy yelling, "Come back soon! These headstones all look the same!"

Ravens weren't particularly common creatures in a cemetery. At least, Stefan rarely saw them when he walked through the gravesites to lay flowers at Amelia's grave. Mystic Falls preferred crosses and more ornate symbols, when they even decorated their headstones.

Catching the deer wasn't difficult; Stefan sprinted far faster than it could hide. As he swallowed its warm blood, gulping it down faster than he could breathe, he knelt down and licked the last bits off his fingers. Out of the corner of his eye, he could see a statue, nestled in the edge of the woods, where the cemetery met the forest.

It was here that his gem started to glow in his pocket, like a burning piece of coal. Stefan grimaced, pulling it out and sloppily running for the statue. The closer he got, the more it burned, until it finally flung itself into the empty eye.

Jeremy immediately reached for some burn cream. "You okay?"

"I've endured worse," Stefan said with a grimace, ignoring his brand-new burn scars. With time, they would fade. As long as Caroline never found out, he'd be alright.

The statue shone abnormally brightly. Stefan shielded himself with his arms, closing his eyes as the searing light spread over the plain. When it dispersed, he steadied himself for another round of pain when—

"_Holy shit._" Jeremy was nearly breathless as he ran up to Stefan. "The Path was _real_."

Stefan reluctantly pulled one arm down to see their feet dangling just above the edge of a shining path, illuminated by the stars above. Just behind them, the Raven statue triumphantly squawked (chirped?) at them before resuming its normal, unassuming stance.

"Huh." Stefan inhaled sharply, blinking back surprise as he stepped forward. The delicate-looking path, formed of shard-like fragments, didn't budge.

Jeremy had already gone ahead, marveling loudly at the constellations – at how they ceased to make sense, with the Southern Lights ahead – as he walked at an alarming pace. Stefan could barely keep up, and the kid was mostly human!

Other people passed through them, smiling with the edges of their eyes crinkled as they too headed to their final destination. Stefan could even hear bits and pieces of various conversations, of people gossiping to each other about the mundane (like the weather).

"Is that Stefan?"

Stefan blinked, staring at the shadow of the person that had just passed him. That voice was so familiar – but it couldn't be.

"I think it is," another voice piped up, though it was higher in pitch than the first. The voice even laughed, as the shadows ran to catch up with him and Jeremy.

Jeremy stood rooted to the ground. "Bonnie…?"

The first voice snorted, "No, we're Santa and his elves. Yes, it's us, you geniuses."

Then the shadows reached for Stefan's and Jeremy's hands. A bright flash of light nearly blinded them. Stefan stepped back, using his arm as a shield.

"Damon…?"

He couldn't see a damned thing: just murky patches of white. When the entire thing cleared – when the path dissolved beyond the Raven statue and into the Salvatore Manor – he saw his older brother staring straight back at him.

Damon was dressed differently than he remembered, in a loose linen blazer with the sleeves rolled up and black denim jeans. His smile was much more genuine, and his stance significantly more relaxed. His older brother hadn't a care in the world, yet the minute their eyes met, Damon immediately rushed over to Stefan's side.

"You didn't overwork yourself, did you?" He raised a hand, lightly pressing it against Stefan's forehead.

Stefan immediately recoiled from his warm touch. "Huh?"

Damon lowered his hand, lightly ruffling Stefan's hair (_wait, what?)_. "Bonnie and I were gonna head home soon. You didn't need to play hero, Stefanizo." His patient tone was suspect: Damon wasn't accusing Stefan, or swearing at him, or entangling malice into every word. For some reason far, far beyond Stefan's comprehension, Damon was genuinely glad to see him.

"You _died,_ Damon," Stefan protested, resisting the urge to hug him. "Jeremy and I thought that if we used the Raven's Path—"

"The Raven's Path?" said Bonnie, folding her arms and looking up at Damon. "You don't really use that for dead people."

"Not really, no," Damon agreed, now tilting his head at them.

Stefan awkwardly shifted his stance. "Then, uh, what do you use it for?"

"Hopping between dimensions, usually. It's a good shortcut when someone goofed up big-time." Damon offered, glancing involuntarily at Jeremy and furrowing his brow at the kid. "Hey, Jerbear. The hell's your problem?"

"_Jerbear_?" Jeremy repeated, his scowl only deepening. "You don't get to give me stupid nicknames. Or did you forget all the times you tried to kill me? After dating my sister?"

"Excuse me?" Damon raised his voice, making no attempt to hide his ire. "Why the hell would I kill you? You're family, Jer. You _and_ Lena. I swear, you're stupider than when I left you."

Wait.

If Damon never killed Jeremy – or dated Elena - then what exactly happened? Last Stefan checked, his brother wasn't so heavily informed about the Raven's Path either.

"Damon? What do you mean? For the past hundred and forty five years, you've…"

Bonnie nearly bowled over with laughter. Wiping the tears away from her face, she regained her composure long enough to say, "A hundred and forty five? Your brother_ barely_ made it to twenty-nine! There's no way he's lived long enough and…" She peered at Jeremy's and Stefan's faces. "And you two are completely and totally serious about this."

Damon stared blankly at them. "Do you think I'm a bloodsucker or something? 'Cause I'm not exactly sure how else I'd get that old."

"Correction: you _were _a vampire for over a hundred and fifty years." Jeremy sighed. "Why wouldn't you be?"

"Beeeeecause I'm a wizard?" For emphasis, Damon held out the palm of his hand. A small flame burst into the air, guided only by the movement of his fingers. Stefan reeled back, watching wordlessly as Damon shaped the fire into a ball of pure light. "A pretty kickass one too, if I may say so myself."

If Damon was the magical one, then Bonnie had to be… Stefan turned his gaze to her. Bonnie grinned from ear-to-ear, baring her (tiny) fangs wide as she hissed in his direction. Jeremy, understandably, nearly crashed into the wall behind him.

"What?" She said with a laugh. "You don't think Damon gets all the fun in every universe?"

"I didn't even know this was possible," Jeremy said quietly, his eyes widening as he rubbed his arms.

Now that Stefan knew, the minute differences were obvious. Damon wore brighter, cheerier colors, forgoing the daylight ring on his fingers. In its place, some kind of silver sword necklace, one with a lion's head, rested around his neck. Bonnie, on the other hand, showed so much more skin, with only a tank-top and a mini skirt. Sure, she wore a loose cardigan to cover her shoulders, but even that was short-sleeved. She wore black stilettos, even in this heat, with a smoky eye that rivaled Katherine's. They were night and day… in the exact same opposite matter as his brother and his friend had been. Damon's t-shirt, underneath his blazer, was a printed slogan from some video game; Bonnie was more alluring and seductive. If Stefan didn't know, he would've said they had switched bodies or lost a bet or something equally ludicrous.

Stefan should've noticed the sheer difference in their postures long before their opposite sets of powers had given them away. Without vampirism, Stefan bitterly noted, Damon held himself much, much more confidently, with a relaxed stance that matched the wizard's nurturing personality.

"Cat got your tongue, _fratellone_?" Now Damon sounded a bit more like himself as he leaned in dangerously close, extinguishing his flame with a gentle blow. Still, his eyes sparkled in a way that Stefan hadn't seen since 1864.

Stefan couldn't quite hide his surprise. "Not yet."

"Good. I was hoping you could still talk." Damon flashed a grin at Bonnie, who could only roll her eyes in response.

Jeremy immediately cleared his throat. "Um, so if you're not our Bonnie and Damon…"

"Yours are probably still on the Path. You just haven't mastered it yet." Damon smiled sympathetically (which was really surreal in itself. Damon could emphasize with other people?) "I don't know where exactly, but you could rely on the bond they have with each other."

His brother was giving pragmatic advice? This had to be a parallel dimension. This absolutely had to be some crazy world where absolutely everything Stefan cherished was no longer shaped like itself.

Stefan slowly mulled over the advice. "You think we could use your blood?"

Damon frowned, his shoulders tensing up slightly. "Not so fast. Do you guys normally resort to blood spells, or are you just masochists?"

"Aw, Damon, but your blood's so giving!" Bonnie leaned in, gently reaching for his arm. Damon made no effort to release her.

"Since when were you two so close?" Jeremy blurted out, puffing his chest a little as he stared Damon squarely in the eye. "Wasn't Elena enough?"

"I never dated your sister," Damon said calmly, still not bothering to shake Bonnie off him. Instead, his expression softened as he held out his other hand. "Jeremy, is there something you're not…?"

"Jeremy was dating Bonnie before she died," Stefan offered quickly, before this turned into WWIII.

A wave of understanding washed over Damon's and Bonnie's faces.

"Oh Jerbear…" Bonnie rushed to Jeremy's side and carefully held his face in her hands. "You should've said something."

"Love doesn't work the same way in every universe," Damon added, a slight blush rising to his cheeks. "Sometimes you need to be clearer, capiche?"

Jeremy carefully raised his hands and gently wrapped them around Bonnie's wrists. "Capiche. I just… I missed Bonnie so much."

"You should save the speeches for your actual friends," Damon said softly, the edges of his eyes crinkling upwards as he observed Jeremy. "I'm sure they miss you too."

"You're taking our accidental summon really well," Stefan remarked, now picking up the grimoire he had borrowed from Bonnie's home. "Has this happened before?"

Damon shrugged nonchalantly. "No idea."

"It's just not the weirdest thing that's happened to us," Bonnie added, leaning in and kissing Jeremy lightly on the forehead. "Do you think it even—"

"Nope," Damon said. "Doesn't even make the Top Ten."

Stefan didn't want to ask, if this was nowhere near the strangest thing that had ever occurred in his not!brother's life. As he gently turned the pages back to the summoning spell that had brought Damon and Bonnie to Mystic Falls, he could feel Damon's hand on his shoulder.

"It's okay, Stefanizo," Damon said, with that same reassuring tone that he had used earlier. "I'll show you how to bring my alternate back. You did a pretty good job for your first time. You also a wizard?"

"Sorry, I'm just your average neighborhood vampire." Stefan laughed, showing off his fangs for effect.

Damon flinched, pulling his hand back as he reached for the grimoire. "Then how the hell did you two pull this off? Jeremy's not exactly magical, and if you're a vampire, you lost your connection to nature."

Stefan bit on his tongue. "It's kind of hard to lose a connection you didn't know you had."

"Oh." Damon grew quiet, flipping the pages until he came across the incantation for the Raven's Path. He pulled out a cell phone from his pocket, analyzing the incantation alongside the pages saved onto his phone. Sitting down cross-legged, he set the book aside and held his hand out expectantly.

Stefan tossed him the Raven's Eye.

"What're you doing?" Jeremy asked, losing the malice in his voice as he sat down near Damon.

It was Bonnie who explained, "He's strengthening the power of the Raven's Eye. Damon's the only one who can, which is a weird thought, considering Stefan outclassed him a year ago."

"I did?" Stefan asked at the same time that Jeremy went, "He did?"

Bonnie giggled. "Of course. You're Silas's doppelganger, right? It would happen eventually."

"Not exactly bitter about it, either," Damon said with a slight grin. "Just glad that Klaus never caught onto that fact."

Go figure. The one time that Klaus had two doppelgangers to choose from, he only picked Elena. Stefan frowned – because that was a mental image he never pictured – before staring down at the gem in Damon's hand. Unlike in Stefan's hand, the gem shone brightly in Damon's, floating mere inches off his hand as Damon stared intently at the incantation.

"How'd your witch pronounce it?"

Jeremy laughed sheepishly. "Uh, we kind of… didn't exactly have one…"

"No wonder it went wrong, you dumbasses." Damon groaned, raising an eyebrow at them. "I'm amazed it even summoned us."

"We were technically already on the Path," Bonnie pointed out. "After… the thing?"

"Still. Did you put it inside the Raven's skull, Jer?" Damon glanced up, gesturing for someone to get him a pile of candles.

Jeremy nodded, reaching for them and placing them along the designated spots. "Yeah. I followed the book exactly."

"You can still walk along the Raven's Path without a witch. We just couldn't travel it like you two." Stefan prided himself on research, and this had been no exception. "Granted, it looks like the connection wasn't as strong."

They didn't exactly have a time constraint, but they didn't have the help they would have liked either. Elena would have laughed straight in their face, while Alaric would have silently begged for them to stop dwelling in the past. ("Whatever happens will happen for a reason," Alaric had once said after too many glasses of bourbon. "Please don't chase your brother's ghost.")

"Yeah, but you'll need magic to summon the specific person you seek." Damon pressed his lips, gently holding the gem above the candles and suspending it mid-air. He murmured something softly in Italian – something about fire and blood? – which in turn transformed the gem into a deeper, richer shade of red. Just before it hit the ground, Damon reached for it and lightly cut his finger to place a drop of blood.

Bonnie nicked her wrist, also dropping a bit of blood alongside him. The gem flashed briefly, nearly blinding Stefan before it gently landed in his hands.

"What did you just do?" Jeremy warily observed Damon, as the wizard tapped his finger again ("_Heal_") to close his newly wounded skin.

"I made it easier to travel the Path." Damon shrugged, rising to his feet and blowing out the candles. "The next time you search for your Damon and Bonnie, you now have a… a kind of GPS that tells them where you are. Our blood should be similar enough that you find them."

"And if you don't, you've also got a way to summon us to help," Bonnie added, reaching for the candles and placing them in their original spots. "Who knows? You may even summon some other Salvatore wizards and witches along the way."

Jeremy raised an eyebrow, glancing back at Stefan. Stefan shrugged, holding his hands up helplessly. If Damon was the warlock, of course the Salvatore family would have a long and illustrious magical line – a surreal thought, considering the Salvatore line no longer existed in this world. Over the years, their relatives had passed away one by one, and it wasn't as if Stefan or Damon could continue the family bloodline.

"Man, could you imagine the look on Stella's face?" Damon chuckled, his lips curling upward as he glanced over at the walls. "She'd _freak_."

"Or she might smother Stefan with fifty million kisses," Bonnie added helpfully.

Jeremy mouthed, "I have no clue what's going on."

"Sorry," Damon quickly said, noticing Jeremy's confusion. "Stella's my – our – cousin. If you need magical advice and I can't come, try sending her a signal. She'd help Stefan in a heartbeat."

She would? This Damon might as well have spoken a foreign language. Stefan couldn't remember his descendants' names; of the Salvatore bloodline, only ones who had moved away from Mystic Falls remained, and they no longer carried the name. If this Damon had a cousin – a capable witch! – who would help him without hesitation… well, Stefan was envious. The Salvatore blood had only run so deep back home.

"So when are you going back?" Bonnie asked, the caution evident in her voice as she gently brushed back Jeremy's hair out of his face. "Right now?"

Jeremy glanced at Stefan. "I don't think my brain can handle a second trip so soon."

Stefan knew the feeling all too well, and he wasn't even the one with a dead girlfriend that cared about Damon. (How many weird sentences would his brain form today?) Elena must've snuck out while they were traveling the path, because she would have interrupted them by now, rushed into Damon's arms without another care in the world.

His heart started to ache again.

Damon turned towards the kitchen. "If so, do you want some tea? I don't know what you have, but…"

Jeremy blinked back surprise. "You know how to do that?"

"I think that's his entire diet," Bonnie said with a slight snicker. "Tea, lemon bars, and not much else."

"Hey, it's all part of a balanced breakfast," Damon shot back, leaning against the door frame. "Bon and I aren't in much of a rush, so we'll leave when you next activate the Path."

Considering everything they had just learned, that could range from hours to even weeks. Would Jeremy feel safe here, even with a Damon that cared about him? The kid had moved out once before. It wouldn't be a stretch if he did again, if only while this Damon was home.

Before Jeremy could say anything, Stefan said, "If you're sure."

"More than sure," Damon said, amidst the sounds of rummaging through the kitchen. (His actual brother would freak, at the thought of someone messing with his perfectly-organized house.) "Your fridge is practically empty, considering you've got humans here. Come on, do I have to magic everything up?"

Jeremy stared. "You can do that?"

Bonnie sure didn't abuse her magic in the same manner Damon did, considering the kitchen just burst with light. Stefan could only laugh as he saw groceries flying into their kitchen, placing themselves into their proper places. So maybe he had summoned the wrong brother, and so maybe Jeremy had summoned the wrong girlfriend, but hell. Their life had just gotten a lot more entertaining.


	2. Chapter 2

**Author's Notes:**

Hey guys! So somehow this story got away from me, so it ended up being a pretty long two-shot. I don't have any plans to continue this story onwards – and frankly, there are plenty of other great stories that follow Damon's and Bonnie's trek to the Other Side, so I'll let those fill in the gaps. I hope you guys enjoyed this fic as much as I did writing it, and please R&R so that I know how I'm doing!

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**Talking to the Dead **

Last night had felt like one long, haze-induced dream. Yet as Stefan finished another novel in the den, he could hear rustling in the kitchen and the sizzling of food over their gas stove. As he followed the noise, he could even smell paprika and garlic wafting into the air. Not even the flame of candles could mask them. Strange: neither Elena nor Jeremy usually extended that effort in the morning. Damon rarely rose at an acceptable hour – and when he did, it was to prove a point, not to make breakfast.

His older brother must've woken up early, but the question was when – Stefan hadn't heard him descend the stairs, nor had he heard Bonnie stir from her self-imposed hibernation. Bonnie and Stefan had talked for what felt like hours last night, comparing notes about their lives over the past century and a half. This Bonnie held herself so much more confidently, with a biting tongue that he hadn't heard in quite some time.

She wove fanciful tales about her Stefan, this "stupidly normal teenage boy" that she had befriended in Mystic Falls, with an old car that occasionally refused to run and a girlfriend that he cherished more than anyone else in the world.

"Except maybe his brother," she admitted, when they'd ventured outside for a late dinner. As she licked the last bits of deer blood off her fingers, her face grew thoughtful. "Damon valued family the most, so that rubbed off on Stefan too."

Stefan tried to picture him - a Damon who valued family more than even love – before he wrinkled his nose and finished the rest of his deer in silence. Discussing Damon had been especially difficult these past few months, but it was far, far easier to inquire about the other Damon that had wandered the Raven's Path. Problem was, every time Stefan even said his name, Bonnie elusively changed the subject.

It didn't take a master detective to discern her feelings for him. Only a blind man could miss the longing looks and even their relaxed stances in each other's presence. Damon, for whatever reason, cared about Bonnie, and she returned the affection through their intertwined fingers and inside jokes. In their world, Stefan knew he was stupidly normal along with Damon, but then… if they were normal, did that make Bonnie the odd woman out?

He didn't want to confirm his suspicions. Clearing his head, Stefan leaned against the kitchen counter, observing the rising steam from the stove along with the open pantry door. "What're you making? It smells good."

"Eggs and sautéed mushrooms," Damon answered as he emerged from the pantry. He was dressed simply, in blue and black striped pajama pants and a logo t-shirt, neither of which Stefan quite _remembered_ Damon owning. (Damon must've magicked them into existence, because Damon's wardrobe consisted mostly of red and black apparel, rather than these colorful prints.) This man, with hair that still wasn't properly brushed, was a far, far cry from the "eternal stud" who spent hours grooming himself. This Damon didn't care enough to even change.

Stefan tilted his head to the side. "Huh."

Damon squinted at him, barely suppressing a yawn. "What's up? Don't like mushrooms?"

"I like them just fine, but I don't need human food." Stefan smothered a smile, folding his arms as he watched Damon stir-fry mushrooms on the shove. "I forgot you did, though."

"Did you sleep well?" Damon pressed his lips together the second he asked that question, his brow furrowing as he focused on the eggs. "I mean, was everything…"

"Yeah, it was fine." Stefan said reassuringly, going ahead and sitting on the counter. "Sounds like you had a restful night."

Damon and Bonnie had been surprisingly quiet for a couple in love. If Stefan didn't know better, he would've sworn that they had slept through the night. Considering Damon thrived on intimacy, Stefan doubted it. All that snoring he heard must've been a glamor spell.

"I guess." Damon lowered the heat on the stove, turning to look at Stefan better. "So what do vampires do at night? Bonnie sleeps, but I don't think she's a textbook example."

Stefan shrugged. "I sleep sometimes. Lately, I read books I've been meaning to catch up on." That wasn't really Damon's question, so Stefan elaborated, "Is it weird? That I'm a vampire when your little brother's some kind of wizard?" And human?

"Kinda. I grew up hating bloodsuckers, especially after one kickstarted Mace's curse." Damon slid the eggs onto a plate, blotting the oil out with a paper towel before he set them on the table. He'd accidentally made extra, Stefan noted; there was far too many for just Damon and Jeremy to eat. "Bonnie's the first one I really trusted."

"Who was the second?"

"Anna." Damon bit back his tongue. "No, wait, that might've been Lexi."

"Lexi?" Damon liked Lexi? He… he… he really wasn't Stefan's older brother. Stefan's throat tightened, just as his heart rate spiked. This Damon had to be an imposter. Had to. If this one – this human, magic-abusing Damon – trusted Lexi, then…

"You never liked her." Stefan said breathlessly, involuntarily reaching for his chest. "Maybe you liked her in your weird, sick, twisted world, but you killed her in mine."

Damon almost dropped his plate. "I'm sorry. I… _what_?"

"You killed her, Damon. On my birthday too."

"Shit." All the color had disappeared from Damon's face. "So when Jeremy said I had a ridiculously long kill list…"

"Yeah, he wasn't kidding."

Damon bit the inside of his cheek. "I… I had no idea." He paused. "Do you want me to go? I can head on the Raven's Path after breakfast."

"No." The request escaped Stefan's lips faster than he could take it back. "I don't need you to leave on my behalf."

Imposter or no, this Damon still felt like his brother – like the human that had once been his protector, before Katherine had ever entered the picture. More rationally, this Damon was the only one who could guide Stefan back to the Bonnie and Damon of this world. As Jeremy had grudgingly agreed last night, this Damon wanted to help. Damon instinctively knew them better than they knew themselves – and as Stefan looked up, he saw this Damon hold up a still squirming squirrel.

"Here."

Stefan accepted the gift and took a deep breath. In his peripheral vision, he could see his pseudo brother hovering – literally hovering – over him. "You don't have to watch this."

"You're still my baby brother, even if you are a bloodsucker." Damon said, washing his hands thoroughly. (His support, it seemed, only went so far.) "I can't exactly feed you eggs and mushrooms."

They still smelt far better than the squirrel. Stefan gulped, painlessly killing it before he slurped its blood down. Damon remained there the whole time, his face distorting into displeasure with each passing second. His brother hadn't approved of his diet, but for completely different reasons… if only his actual brother could see him now.

Stefan laughed, carefully licking the edges of his fingers as he held the squirrel's corpse in the other.

"What's so funny?"

As he headed out the door, Stefan mysteriously answered, "Everything."

* * *

After Stefan had buried the squirrel and cleansed his hands – mostly to get rid of the smell – he had returned to the kitchen, to a lively debate between Jeremy, Bonnie, and Damon. By this time, thankfully, Damon had fully changed, though he still preferred dark jeans and t-shirts with crazy slogans (today's printed shirt: some red and black screenprint of a stylized sun) to leather jackets. Curiously, Damon had even kept that lion necklace he liked so much, though Stefan couldn't even begin to fathom why. The Salvatores had never used lions to represent their family.

"So you're saying that _Final Fantasy XV_ already came out in your world?" Jeremy was shaking his head softly as Stefan walked in. "You have to be kidding me."

"Nope, it's been out for ages." Damon laughed, leaning against the counter as he tore off a piece of a croissant and dipped it in jam. "I haven't played video games since _Final Fantasy 8_, but I think Stefanizo and Tyler got to the second-to-last boss before I left?"

Jeremy groaned. Loudly. "Don't you dare spoil it for—"

"The protagonist – that emo kid? He's totally the villain."

Jeremy nearly smacked Damon's shoulder with one of his thick reference books, causing Bonnie to burst into hysterical laughter.

"Still spoiling the ending to everything, I see," Stefan commented, reaching over for the last croissant and splitting it in half. Even though he didn't need human food for sustenance, there was something comforting about freshly-baked pastries. Damon must've magicked this into existence too, along with the rest of the groceries he had obtained last night.

Damon simply rolled his eyes as he turned to face his kid brother. "Not my fault this Jeremy _sucks_ at video games."

"You wanted to play Rainbow Road on Mario Kart!" Jeremy tossed a hand into the air, waving it around wildly, as his other was far more preoccupied with his warm breakfast. "Who does that? Sadists, that's who!"

Stefan didn't exactly know what this 'Rainbow Road,' was, or why Jeremy was so worked up about it, but it certainly fit his brother's personality if it was the most sadistic choice available in the game. He exchanged a knowing glance with Bonnie, before taking a seat near them. "Sooo… have we told the others about this yet?"

Jeremy said, as he glumly picked at his breakfast, "Nope. I've been trying to get in touch with Elena, but she's been ignoring me since yesterday."

All over their big spat with Damon, no doubt. When Elena wanted to avoid someone, she would go to extraordinary lengths – and unfortunately, this happened to be the one time where her presence would've been appreciated. Stefan pressed his lips together, focusing more on tearing the croissant than his rising blood pressure.

"What _is_ up with Lena, anyhow?" Damon had to ask, finishing off his mushrooms. "I hear she's dating me, and I've gotta say, I didn't think I was into pedophilia."

Jeremy nearly choked on his omelet. "B-but you and Bonnie?"

"I'm also a hundred years older than your Bonnie," she patiently reminded him. "Or maybe my boyfriend's a little whacked up in the head."

Damon scowled at her, even as he leaned forward and kissed her on the cheek. "Maybe I'm the only one who notices that Lena's priorities aren't what they used to be."

Funny how his older brother was actually the voice of reason here, when Stefan was so used to Damon impulsively reacting to everything. Even if he abused magic without a second thought, Damon was suited to it.

Noticing Jeremy's hand stretched out for the orange juice, Stefan went ahead and poured him a glass. "So you haven't called Alaric either? Or Enzo?"

Bonnie raised an eyebrow as she gestured towards Damon. "Um, I hate to ask, but why Alaric? He and Jenna aren't going to be much help if they're in Boston."

Jeremy tilted his head slightly. "Huh? Jenna's been dead for a year now, Bonnie, and Ric's still in town." If not ridiculously busy with high school students and their never-ending drama.

Damon winced involuntarily. "I'm sorry other-me killed her too."

"That actually wasn't your fault," Stefan said, fighting back the urge to laugh. (His Damon wouldn't have apologized. Not like this.)

From how Damon and Bonnie had reacted, there had been significantly less casualties in their world. Perhaps they'd planned better – or, as Stefan's gut instinct was telling him – they had more witches to rely on. Damon and the other Stefan must've protected everyone better from the onslaughts that followed.

His older brother couldn't hide his relief, just as Bonnie couldn't exactly hide her amusement behind her hand. Jeremy almost swatted Damon, for his insensitivity, before he withdrew his hand and instead took the orange juice from Stefan.

"I feel like we need a flowchart," Jeremy mumbled to Stefan, knowing full well that Bonnie could overhear them. "I can't keep up with the changes."

Neither could Stefan, and he was pretty sure Damon was giving him the condensed version. After a few seconds of (surprisingly not awkward) silence, Damon reached for his phone and checked it, flipping through various apps until he got to the page he wanted. "Hey, Jer? You think you can head to the grocery store with me?"

Jeremy blinked back surprise. "I guess. Are you sure?"

"Yeah." Damon gave him the faintest of smiles, one that didn't quite reach his eyes. "I need someone to grab synthesis stuff with me. I figure, better you than Stefan or Bonnie."

Bonnie elaborated, "He thinks my fangs make all the other witches nervous."

Damon lightly rolled his eyes in response. "So are you coming or not?"

"Fine, fine." Jeremy gave Stefan a look of helplessness before he finished the last bites of his omelet and headed for the back door. "Just one thing: are you going to teach me how to make your fancy wizard stuff?"

"Let's not get too carried away, Gilbert Jr.," Damon said, laughing as he pushed the poor kid out the door. "I said you're better than BonBon for this, but I didn't say by how much."

"Huh." Stefan folded his arms. "I think Damon actually _likes_ Jeremy."

"Of course he does. Damon wouldn't have asked if he didn't care," Bonnie said, reaching for a buttered piece of toast and lightly munching on it. Now, as she looked at Stefan, he got the vague feeling that she was seeing right through him. "I'll see you later," she murmured as she headed for the library, leaving Stefan alone to mull over what had just happened.

In less than forty-eight hours, he had not only gained a human, magic-abusing brother, but also a vampire who painfully reminded him of her great-grandmother – and while he cared for them, he couldn't explain how he felt about them either. Sure, they were technically Damon and Bonnie, but they weren't really _his_ Damon and Bonnie. Not as long as their roles in the universe had been swapped.

* * *

Maybe an hour after Damon and Jeremy had left to buy items for 'synthesis' (whatever that was), Elena waltzed into the Manor. Her footsteps were the easiest to discern – they were always lighter and daintier than the heavy, trudging stomps Damon had – along with the scent of her honey and vanilla perfume. While they were no longer dating, some small part of Stefan's heart ached as he heard her call out, "I'm home!"

Elena had him wrapped around her little finger, and she had no real idea. Soon, the footsteps arrived in the library, where Bonnie and Stefan had curled up on the couch with their novels. Stefan had half-entertained the idea of a movie, but Bonnie had thoroughly disillusioned him by insisting on him either playing 'Greensleeves' – a piano piece he hadn't heard since 1864 – or reading a classic Jane Austen novel.

They had settled on dramatically reading one of Elena's trashy young adult novels out loud, even the stupid sex scenes ("Wait, do teenagers actually believe this happens?" Bonnie had asked in utter contempt as Stefan mimed a particularly disgusting scene with a hula hoop), until Bonnie's face had gotten so red from laughter that they had to call off the whole thing. As Elena walked in, Stefan had busied himself with a war memoir, while Bonnie was journaling her recent adventures in her own leather-bound journal.

Elena's eyes met Stefan's first, so she said, "I just got your texts, sorry. Turns out there's not much cell service down where Caroline and Tyler are… so did I miss anything last night?"

Stefan wanted to point out Bonnie, resting against his shoulder, so he just nudged Bonnie. She didn't even look up from her novel as she said, "Nope. Did you have a good time, Lena?"

"Yeah, of course." Elena gave her a nod of acknowledgement. "Hey Bonnie."

Stefan slowly counted to one… two…

"Ohmigod! Bonnie!" Elena squealed, flying over the couch and smothering Bonnie with dozens of kisses, causing Bonnie's poor novel to crash onto the floor and Stefan shuffling off to the other side of the couch. "You're here! You're alive! You're here _and _alive!"

Bonnie giggled, her laugh intensifying as Elena smothered her further with affection and the tightest bear hug Stefan had ever seen. "N-not quite, Len! Hey! That tickles!"

Stefan had missed their close friendship: it reminded him of the days where Elena ignored his texts to marathon movies with her favorite girl; where Elena and Bonnie giggled conspiratorially over inside jokes that Stefan never understood ("because you have to be from this century," Elena had always quipped); and even where his sleepovers were interrupted by an emergency girls' night in. When a guy lived forever, he learned to appreciate the smaller things in life – and Elena and Bonnie had had a friendship that he had sorely wanted, back when he was human.

"What do you mean, not quite?" Elena pouted, now pulling away to look at her best friend better. "Is this like the Anchor deal all over again?"

Stefan tried to interrupt, "No, what she means is—"

Bonnie's fangs manifested themselves before he could finish. Elena shrunk back, before she leaned in again and lightly poked Bonnie's incisor. "Whoa. You're a vampire too?"

"Too?" Now Bonnie turned to look at Stefan. "Did the apocalypse happen? Why is everyone except for Jeremy a vampire?"

Stefan's novel was suddenly much more fascinating. As he busied himself with the next few pages, Bonnie reached over and dangled it in his face, nearly tearing the pages apart with her tenuous hold on the edge of the book. "Stefan Giuseppe Salvatore. Why the hell is _Elena _a vampire?"

"Ooh, full name ultimatum." Elena wasn't helping matters, even if she was mostly relieved to see (a version of) her best friend. "I became one last year, Bonnie. Remember? I drowned on the bridge and…"

Bonnie's unimpressed glare only worsened. If looks could kill, Stefan would've been dead a long, long time ago.

"This Bonnie's from another world," Stefan decided to explain, before Bonnie retaliated at him with her newfound super-strength, "One where she's a vampire and Damon's a witch."

Elena mulled over that for a second, baring her own fangs and comparing them with Bonnie's. "So… she's not _my_ Bonnie."

"Sorry." Bonnie laughed sheepishly, pulling Elena in and lightly pressing her forehead against her best friend's. "And where I'm from, you're still human. A very badass doppelganger human, but… you know, fangless."

They had managed to protect their Elena. Stefan was kinda jealous – between Lexi's presence in their lives, Damon's rational thought, and now Elena's human existence, this other world sounded like a utopia. One, admittedly, where Stefan's magic apparently far outclassed Damon's a long time ago, but a utopia nonetheless.

"Oh." Elena's face fell, as the full implications finally started to sink in. "How did you get here?"

"Stefan and Jeremy used a gem called the Raven's Eye." Noticing Elena's even blanker stare, Bonnie lightly brushed the hair out of Elena's face. "They wanted to bring your Bonnie back, but they grabbed me and my Damon by mistake."

"Damon?"

"Not your Damon, Lena." Bonnie's shoulders stiffened – funny how she wasn't bothered by the implications of her dating Jeremy, but the second she realized how Elena cared for Damon? That bothered her way more than she would ever openly admit.

Sometimes, being an eternal teenager sucked. (Stefan knew that feeling far, far too well.) "Definitely not our Damon," Stefan agreed, running a hand through his hair. "He's annoying for completely different reasons."

"But you think he's still annoying," Bonnie amusedly pointed out. "They're not that different."

"No," Stefan had to admit.

They were, and yet, they weren't. Bonnie's biting tongue had always existed in this world – it had just been muted by time and pain; whereas Damon had been carefree and easygoing about a hundred and fifty years ago. Time just hadn't worked its exhausting spell on these other selves.

Elena said, as she flopped onto the couch and let go of Bonnie, "So how are you two planning on getting home? I figure you already have a plan, 'else you wouldn't be so calm about it."

"Damon's gonna enchant something to act as a compass," Bonnie said, resting her hand underneath her chin. "Getting on the Path'll be easy. It's getting off it without an Eye that'll be challenging."

The Path seemed pretty intuitive when Stefan had pressed Bonnie for further answers: to activate it, you used the Raven's Eye, and to pinpoint an exact location, you would then use magic or an already enchanted item to jump there. To get off the path, however, actual magic had to be used. Stefan hadn't the faintest idea how they succeeded the first time, but he suspected Damon's inherent connection to nature and the Eye had everything to do with it.

"Do you have a spell or something that we'll give our Bonnie?" Stefan gestured towards her journal as he picked it off the ground and carefully closed it.

"I'm sure Damon does," Bonnie said, carefully tucking the journal into her bag. "If not, remind him to write it down when he gets back."

"Do you guys need me for anything?" Elena scooted closer to Stefan. "I can help other-Damon with his magic stuff, if Jeremy's not already on that."

She was taking this really well, for a girl that had locked herself up in her room for weeks mourning the loss of her boyfriend. Caroline and Tyler must've knocked some sense into her, if they hadn't distracted her entirely from the situation at hand. Stefan automatically reached over and squeezed her hand. "Just stay here with us. If it's too hard looking at other-Damon…"

Elena leaned forward, and unconsciously rested her forehead against Stefan's. "I imagine it's harder on you than me. If you can handle it this well, then you know, maybe I should too, instead of locking myself up all the time."

Stefan laughed, half-tempted to press his hand against her forehead and check her temperature. Instead, he rested there a moment longer, simply enjoying her (platonic) touch. "Who are you, and what've you done with my ex-girlfriend?"

Elena lightly brushed against his shoulder, as Bonnie muffled her laughter – this time successfully – behind the nearest pillow. "I just came back from visiting Caroline, okay? I deserve to be a little less moody."

"Good, because I didn't want a repeat of Jeremy's goth phase," Stefan teased.

"You weren't even around for most of it," Elena softly whined, her gaze now turning towards the window nearby as voices from outside trickled in.

Stefan could hear them too – Damon and Jeremy were undoubtedly arguing over something again – as he too looked in her direction.

Bonnie rose to her feet. "Guess we should help out. You guys coming?"

Without another word, Stefan and Elena followed her back to the kitchen.

* * *

"What do you mean, you don't want it?" Damon's voice just kept getting louder and louder as they approached. Elena actually pressed her fingers against her ears, wincing with each step she took. "Jeremy, I don't care if other-me was a douchecanoe, you deserved a proper gift!"

"Maybe, but you didn't have to get me a frigging Gamestation 4!"

Elena and Bonnie exchanged wary glances as Stefan bravely stepped forward and stared at the chaos that had become the Salvatore kitchen. There, standing in the middle of a chalk-drawn runic circle, was Damon, calmly pouring ingredients into a stove pan as Jeremy angrily hovered nearby.

"Consider it a present for dealing with other-me," Damon said, with the thinnest of smiles on his face as he stirred the glittering, yet clear, liquid. "I can't believe you got into SCAD, Jer. That's amazing."

Elena blushed. "We had a graduation party for him, right before everyone left! It was just… kind of hard, with everyone wanting to start their lives again."

"Which was also why I applied to art school in Savannah. Since I got decent financial aid, I figured, why not?" Jeremy placed the last ingredient, a pinch of saffron, into the pot. The ire had disappeared from his voice, and instead, he was staring at Damon, mentally dissecting him as if he were a specimen on a microscope.

"When do you leave again? Two weeks?" Bonnie quickly intervened, heading to the other side of the kitchen to brew herself a pot of coffee. "If you don't find your Damon and Bonnie by then, you'll at least have some time to figure things out." Or you know, time to play games on that shiny video game console Damon had purchased.

Elena followed her like a little duckling, reaching for the milk and sugar as she helped Bonnie with this mindless task. "Plus you've got me and Ric… and Enzo too, I guess." She wouldn't even look at Damon – and frankly, Stefan couldn't blame her.

Damon didn't even smell the same: he smelt of saffron and paprika and earth, with the faintest hint of some cologne that Stefan couldn't recognize. It was a far cry from vampire Damon, who smelt of blood, freshly-laundered shirts, and musky cologne. There was some other scent to other-Damon too – something otherworldly – but Stefan couldn't quite pinpoint it.

Frankly, Damon's silence was damning in and of itself. Stefan had half-expected Damon to acknowledge Enzo's name, but Damon had barely moved from the stove. So Elena had to wonder, "Were you friends with him too, Damon?"

"Not really." Damon continued stirring, his attention far more apt on the simmering liquid than Elena.

Quickly, Bonnie clapped her hands together. "Hey, Elena! One lump or two?"

"Two?" Elena held up a finger in response. "That doesn't get you off the hook, other-Damon. How come mine was super close with him, but you don't even look at me when you say his name?"

"Because we weren't friends." Damon finally dared to look up at her, with hardened eyes and an expressionless face that Stefan couldn't read. "Vampire-me kept strange company."

Bonnie cleared her throat. Loudly. "Coffee's ready."

Jeremy silently headed over and poured himself a glass of water. "Yet another difference," he said softly. "That makes how many, exactly?"

"I didn't bother to count," Stefan replied.

Silence – the awkward kind – fell over them, as only the sizzling of the fire was heard. Bonnie hastily poured another cup of coffee, only for Stefan to reach over and lightly tap her wrist. Only Damon and Jeremy needed caffeine; for the rest, it was a distraction, just like Bonnie's efforts to pacify everyone.

"It's almost ready," Damon said, before the silence threatened to engulf them. "Tomorrow, we can head on the Path once it fully dries."

Stefan peered at the stove pan. "Dries?"

"It's an enchantment, not an elixir. To get home, I needed something that would keep me and Bonnie grounded – and I'm not taking chances with her necklace."

So he picked the necklace that he always wore. Stefan watched as the necklace, lying in the liquid, just glimmered even more strongly than before. "Do you always do stuff like this?"

"_Yes_," Bonnie said exasperatedly, silencing Damon with a look.

Damon turned towards her, reaching over and flicking her nose. "Hey, _this stuff_ happened to save your sorry ass a million times."

"Doesn't mean I like how often it takes over the kitchen," she said under her breath, though her amused expression betrayed her voice.

As Damon laughed, closing the gap between them and kissing her squarely on the lips, they forgot the rest of the world – including poor Elena, with the color draining from her face as she stood there, rooted to the ground.

Jeremy grimaced, his lips twisting to the side as he pulled Elena aside. "Ugh, get a room, you two."

Elena stared up at the ceiling, furiously blinking back tears with each word she struggled to form. "When did this… When did you two..."

Damon cursed under his breath. "Lena, crap, I – I forgot other-me was dating you."

"About six months, give or take," Jeremy explained, handing over a cup of coffee before he helped himself to another one. "I figure, it's because they're from a parallel universe. I mean, if Damon and Bonnie are dating, then I'm probably dating Caroline or—"

"Actually, you're celibate," Damon said, struggling to keep his face neutral as he looked between Elena and Bonnie.

Jeremy blinked. "Huh. I wouldn't have guessed that one." To Elena, he hastily pulled her into a tight bear hug. "Point is, it's gonna be alright."

"I'm not mad at Damon and Bonnie dating. I'm mad they never _told_ me," Elena said, resting her head on her brother's shoulder. She must've noticed Damon and Bonnie's awkward glances, because she amended, "I know, I know. You're from another world, you didn't have time to tell me, yada yada, but I'm not stupid. I see how he looks at you."

Damon uneasily scratched his cheek. "Lena, if this makes you uncomfortable…"

She shook her head. "It's gotta be worse for Jeremy. Damon and I broke up before everything turned to crap." Supposedly. They'd broken up and gotten back together so many times that Stefan had lost count, and he considered himself decent at understanding their (complicated) relationship.

"More like he dumped her," Jeremy mouthed, the relief clear as day on his face as he loosened the hug. "Though really? I'm celibate? Who the hell turned me off the dating scene forever?"

"Someone's got his priorities all figured out," Elena said, unable to hide her affectionate exasperation as she let go and lightly ruffled her brother's hair. "Come on, let's make their last night here a memorable one."

"Memorable?" Bonnie echoed, leaning comfortably against Damon. "What do you mean by that?"

Elena grinned mischievously as she held up the last cup of coffee. "You'll see."

* * *

After dinner – Damon refused to humor Elena on an empty stomach– they piled into the den, where Elena had carefully arranged candles in a large ring and bottles of booze nearby on the coffee table. Damon immediately reached for the bourbon, pouring it into a glass and gulping it down in one sip.

"Some things never change," Stefan murmured, almost certain of the smile on his face as he held out the bottle for Damon.

Damon, on the other hand, shook his head at them. "You're terrible."

"I can't believe you'd encourage Damon's fledgling alcoholism," Bonnie teased, pouring herself a glass of white wine. "Normally, Jeremy's hidden it up in the rafters or somewhere new where locator spells can't even find them…."

Elena whistled softly. "Guess we should've hidden them too."

"You sure should've," Damon said, going ahead and hiding the rest of the booze with a flick of his wrist. "But since you didn't, I'll do it for you. Minors don't get to drink under my roof."

"I miss my Damon," Elena said ruefully, her hands reaching for an invisible bottle of booze before Stefan lightly pulled her wrist down. "He wouldn't have cared if we drank with him."

"Your Damon was also quite the character—"

Bonnie flicked his nose. "_You're_ also quite the character, before you forget, Mr. Salvatore."

Jeremy and Stefan snickered, just as Damon seized her hand and lightly twirled her around him. Then, just as she sat down, he snapped his fingers and illuminated the candles with sheer willpower. They flickered, radiating heat and energy that Stefan vaguely recognized as Damon's, before the electric lights above them dimmed.

"Am I?" He said softly, holding out his hand and floating just mere inches off the ground.

"Maybe. So are you gonna tell my future? Particularly about my love life?" Elena leaned in, her expression suddenly turning dangerous as she held up the playing cards she must've pulled from the collection of board games they owned. Stefan hadn't watched her carefully enough – he wished he had – because if he had known, they wouldn't be seated like this, with magical energy pulsing through their veins.

Damon shrugged, rolling up his sleeves. "Ready as I'll ever be."

He shuffled the deck, humming softly to a melody that Stefan didn't recognize, before he started chanting incredibly quickly – with such rhythm that he must've done this before, that he was well-trained in the art of talking to the dead. Stefan could hear Damon's heartbeat intensifying with each passing second; the candles flickered dangerously, their strength increasing along with Damon's heart rate.

Until… until…

Damon's feet returned to the ground, and he heaved his breath as he slowly placed cards out one by one, until the entire deck had revealed itself to him. He scanned them carefully, until he said, "Elena, I'm not sure you want this."

Elena stared at him, dumbfounded. "What do you…"

"The future's a scary thing to know. If I go ahead and tell you what these cards mean… you have to promise me something."

"Anything," she said, a little too quickly for Stefan's liking.

Damon winced. "You can't chase after your Damon."

She pouted. "Why not?"

"Because… if this deck's right, like it should be, your true love isn't who you think it is." He held up the cards – Stefan couldn't tell which ones, from this angle – and tapped them. "I know you mean well. You're family, no matter the universe, and you're capable of accomplishing some scary crap. Just… just listen to me when I say, your Damon's gonna come back, and he's not going to be the same man you loved."

"Thank God," Jeremy muttered under his breath, causing Elena and Stefan to glare at him in an eerie unison.

Damon shrugged, shuffling the cards again before he glanced at Stefan. "I just tell them like I see them. Stefanizo, do you want your fortune too? Or should we play that Clueless game Bonnie's been eying?"

If there was anything Stefan had learned in his hundred-something years, the future wasn't worth knowing ahead of time. Most everything became a self-fulfilling prophecy if he thought hard enough, and he didn't need the additional stress of re-writing a future that may not even happen. So he just shook his head, pulling out the board game and setting it up in the circle.

"I think," Stefan said wisely, observing Damon restoring the electric lights and blowing out the candles with another flick of his wrist, "Board games are a good way to end the night."

* * *

In the morning, after Bonnie had triumphantly won ten rounds of Clueless ("You're giving Emma Woodhouse a run for her money," Elena had said in disbelief), they woke up early to see Bonnie and Damon off on the Path. Jeremy had assisted with making breakfast – omelets, toast, freshly-cut fruit, orange juice, and even some hash browns – before they drove to the next town over and activated the Raven's Path. Elena had opted to remain behind, "just in case," but Stefan suspected that she just didn't want another round of heartbreak.

The Path was significantly less cumbersome the second time, resembling less the star-studded path Stefan remembered and more resembling a typical wooden path in Mystic Falls. Damon quickly led them to a waterfall by a clearing, his lion necklace glowing more strongly with each passing step. Once they were safely beside the rushing water, Damon stepped closer and embraced Stefan as tightly as he could.

"Catch you on the flipside, Stefanizo," he said, going ahead and ruffling Stefan's hair.

Stefan had to ask, before he forgot, "Do you have a spell that our witch has to recite?"

"You said your Bonnie lost your powers, so… no. You dumbasses'll have to rely on your Eye, which should be fine from here."

(Stefan was this close to pushing Damon into the waterfall.)

Bonnie warmly hugged Elena and Jeremy, refusing to let go of them just yet. She said warmly, "Since you don't have magic: when you find your Damon and Bonnie, hold their hands. That connection should be enough to send you home. If not… then well… just summon us. Or Stella."

Stefan could only nod, his throat tightening as Damon released his hold on Stefan and disappeared into the dazzling lights ahead of them. Bonnie too was engulfed by the lights, as she released Elena's hands long enough to lightly kiss her forehead.

For a few seconds, all they heard was the rushing water, with maybe the cawing of the Raven if they strained to listen. Then, just when Stefan had given up all hope of seeing them anytime soon, he could hear a distant voice grumble, "What the hell did they mean, 'you'll find them on the Path?' It feels like we've been on this thing forever."

Elena gasped, "Damon!"

Another voice – Bonnie's voice – tried to reassure him with a, "It hasn't been that long, Damon. Don't be such a baby."

Unlike other-Damon, who preferred printed t-shirts and jeans, this one was dressed in flannel, not unlike what Stefan had found the last time he visited the Gilbert Lakehouse. Jeremy stared at this Damon, askance, before he said, "Are we sure we've got the right one?"

Stefan returned the doubtful glance. "Maybe this one's a lumberjack."

"Hey, lumberjacks are tastier than you'd think," Damon shot back.

Jeremy bit on his lip to keep from laughing as he reached out for Bonnie's hands, just as Stefan rushed forward and held his older brother's hands. Light engulfed them again, blinding their line of vision, until they were once again in the Salvatore Manor – with Elena screaming as she rushed back to avoid their oncoming arrival.

"Give a girl warning next time!" She hissed, patting down her jeans and shaking newfound glitter off them.

Jeremy elbowed her. "Like we could."

Damon glanced at their surroundings, then again at them, before his shoulders sagged in relief and he collapsed onto the nearest couch. "You are _not_ going to believe where we were," Damon – his actual Damon – groaned. "It was some stupid alternate dimension where Bonnie was the vampire and I was…"

"The witch?" Stefan finished for him.

Stupefied, Damon stared at him in silence.

"How'd you know?" Bonnie asked warily, her hand unconsciously intertwined in Damon's as she glanced between Jeremy and Elena, who were unsuccessfully trying to contain their laughter.

Stefan chuckled softly, "They might've paid us a visit." Honestly, he was just glad they had returned to him in one piece, however the circumstance. "One dreadfully long visit where Damon actually made us breakfast."

Bonnie – his Bonnie – gasped as she swatted Damon's shoulder. "You never did that for me!"

"Ow!" Damon winced, rubbing the precise spot where she'd hit him. "I didn't get the chance to! Everyone was too busy planning our wedding."

Stefan raised an eyebrow. "Your wedding?"

Other-Damon had said that once Damon returned to them, he wouldn't be the same man that had disappeared along with the Other Side. Sure, Damon still smelt of blood, musky cologne, and freshly-laundered clothing, but he looked at Bonnie with a tinge of awe and respect – and he had never once regarded Katherine or Elena in such a manner. In fact, Bonnie might as well have been the only one in the room, from how his expression softened at the mere sight of her.

"Yeah, our wedding," he said softly, the implications still lost on him. "We stayed a lot longer than we would've guessed."

"Other-Stefan was the one who sent us on our way, once he figured out we weren't from his world," Bonnie said quietly, trying – and failing – to look anywhere but Damon's face. "I'm sorry we took so long."

The faintest of smiles graced Jeremy's features. "Don't worry about it. I'm just glad you're back here with us."

Elena nodded, instead curling up against Stefan as she said, "Welcome back."

Damon gave her a grateful smile – presumably for not asking or caring about his impeding wedding to Bonnie – as he said, "It's good to be here." Neither he nor Bonnie made any motion to let go of their hands, even when they noticed Elena's confused stare.

So maybe – just maybe – Damon's strange, magic-abusing, human self wasn't the exact opposite Stefan had always thought he was.


End file.

Vampire Diaries