Disclaimer: I do not own the Vampire Diaries. Obviously.

Author's Note: Thank you for all the reviews :) This chapter is a bit short, but quite important! Read on…

Elena laughed and rolled her eyes at Caroline and Tyler, who were dancing drunkenly at the traditional annual party out in the woods for Mystic Falls High students.

She was feeling better than she had in a long time. The Council had been compelled, Klaus was gone, and everything was as normal as it could possibly be.

Except for one thing. Damon.

She and Stefan were sort of fighting about how hung up on it she was.

"He's your brother! Surely you care that he's done this to himself?" she had yelled at her boyfriend the previous day.

"He can make his own decisions, Elena," Stefan told her, and she had stormed out.

There were times when Stefan's permissiveness was annoying. She frowned. She couldn't really complain given that was why she chose him in the first place.

He respected her choices, and trusted that she had good reasons behind them. But Damon's decision was so clearly insane that she was frustrated at why he refused to see that.

Damon had laughed when she tried to broach the subject with him.

"Elena, there's nothing you or Stefan can do. The spell is absolute. Why would he be running around hounding me about it?"

"I just can't understand why you would do this, Damon!" she said.

He raised an eyebrow at her.

"You know why, Elena," he told her.

She did, but she didn't want to think about that.

"I didn't want you to neuter yourself because of me," she told him softly, using Katherine's term.

"Well, you can't always control what other people do," he told her, looking at her pointedly.

Elena glared at him.

"This is about Wickery Bridge, isn't it? You're lashing out to hurt me," she accused him.

He shook his head.

"Elena, I do not want to hurt you. This is something I did specifically so that you wouldn't get hurt. So that you would live, and be happy with Stefan."

She turned away from him.

"Why don't you admit what you're really mad at me about?" he said, and she stopped.

"You know why I'm mad at you."

"No, I can feel that there's something else under all of this, but you won't say it out loud," he replied.

She swivelled around to face him.

"You left me," she said, realising how pathetic that sounded as soon as the words left her mouth.

"You ordered me to go," he pointed out.

"I know," she said snippily. "But I didn't expect you to actually go," she admitted.

He smiled, and that made her even madder.

"You mean you were counting on my whipped, pathetic side to keep me in town even after you stomped all over my heart and cut me out of your life."

"You promised," she whispered, feeling selfish.

"I know," he said gently. "I was only trying to do what's best for you. You know that."

"Well, stop trying to decide what's best for me," she snapped childishly. "I can decide that for myself."

"You did, Elena," he reminded her.

Elena took another sip of her beer. She wasn't really in the mood for this party, and she got up to throw the cup half-full of beer into the bin.

She wandered off towards the edge of the woods, feeling like some quiet space amongst all the noise of the party.

When she was grabbed from behind, she didn't even have time to scream before she was knocked unconscious.

"Hello, Elena," drawled the blonde with the British accent as Elena woke up. She was in the underground caves again with Rebekah.

"What are you doing?" Elena asked her, her eyes as wide as saucers.

"We have some unfinished business, you and I," Rebekah hissed. "I still haven't paid you back, you little doppelganger bitch, for what you did to me and my brother."

Elena was terrified now.

"Does Elijah know you're here?" she asked.

Rebekah tilted her head.

"No," she said. "But don't think that my brother's morals are going to stop me, Elena. Haven't you learned by now that family means more to him than anything? He won't disown me for killing you," she said coldly, and Elena knew it was the truth.

"Is that what you're going to do? Kill me?" she said. "I thought you wanted to torture me, draw it out," she said.

"That was what we agreed," Rebekah said, referring to their last visit down here. "I've been plotting you know, thinking about the worst way to make you suffer. And I think I've found the perfect solution," Rebekah purred, stalking towards her.

"Stefan and Damon will come after you for this," Elena warned. "They still have the white oak stake."

Rebekah smiled triumphantly.

"Oh, but Elena, I have the perfect way to ensure that your boyfriends will never kill me," Rebekah said, and Elena realised what she was going to do.

Rebekah held her bleeding wrist against Elena's mouth for several moments before she snapped her neck.