Fanfiction: Fear in a Handful of Dust ( 11/?)
Title: Fear in a Handful of Dust (11/?)
Author:
lady_slayer
Rating: T
Pairing: Damon/Elena,
Category: Hurt/comfort
Summary:Be careful what you wish for, or it might actually happen. Lives will get turned upside down, hearts get broken and everything is NOT the way it should be. Also... nothing good EVER came of a wish that starts with "I wish you could..."!
Warnings: A little blood, a bit more foul language, but nothing TOO bad.
Show/Bookverse: Show
Disclaimer: I do not own any of these characters. And the title is from “The Waste Land” by T.S. Eliot Spoiler: A few, I guess... but I don't really pick up on the actual show-plot, I just use a few newfound charactertraits (and new characters, like Elijah).
...Thank you sooo much, my darling AVECIA, you’re the BEST beta reader I can hope for. Also, thank you my lovely readers, and even more so, all of you reviewers - you always make my day! Disclaimer: I don’t own a thing about TVD, I just play with them because it’s so much fun! On with it!
xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo
Half a night and a few hours of sunlight was all they had been allowed to have; for one moment she was lying in Damons arms, and the next she was... well, NOT. She turned around and around, but still all she could see was darkness; all she could hear was the thundering of her own heartbeat in her ears.
There was nothing else. She was alone in no-man’s land. She had tried to speak, but her voice wouldn’t even reach her own ears. It was as if she was locked up in some sort of vacuum.
She couldn’t even feel the ground under her feet, moving more or less in thin air; it would be exciting... even exhilarating, if it wasn’t for the fact that everything was dark. That was, when she heard the voice. Her own voice only not. Because she was sure she never sounded like that... well, maybe when she had been reciting an old poem for class. “I do not wish you any harm, young Lady. But it has been so terribly long since I last wandered on earth.
All I could do was watch; I watched the world change and become something new and very terrifying for such a long time... I just wish to visit it once again.” Elena knew that she should be scared. But for some reason she couldn’t muster up the emotion. She felt safe and warm with the presence of this unknown woman around her.
“Well... if you want to... visit, then why didn’t you do it before now?”
“Because I could not find a way. You see, I died a long time ago. But my soul couldn’t wander to the Elysian Fields, because there was still too much for me to do."
Something in all of that seemed familiar to Elena. And then she remembered one school lesson about heaven and hell, and how different people thought of it all over time and place. And the Elysian Fields...
“You’re Alyona! You’re... you’re Helen of Troy!”
A soft sound - more tingling of tiny little bells than laughter - reached her ears then.
“That I am, Elena Gilbert from Mystic Falls. I am Alyona, I am the first of our bloodline to walk the earth. And now I am asking to borrow your body. Not for too long, I promise you that. Just for a little while. Just so I can feel the sun and the wind again. Just so I can tell my husband goodbye... I never got to tell him that.”
Blinking away the tears that suddenly had sprung to her eyes, Elena nodded, somehow knowing that Alyona would see it.
“Alright. I don’t know why, but I trust you. So... okay.”
There was the touch of a cold hand, and then someone kissed her on the cheek.
“Thank you. I promise I won’t disappoint your trust, Elena.”
It was a strange place there - wherever there was. But everything she felt, seemed to be more important than what she thought. Because normally, she would feel she could trust this woman, but her brain would tell her that it was too dangerous to trust someone she never even met. And then she suddenly felt like she was freefalling down from the sky, but still she was not afraid. She had the feeling that she was as soft and light as a feather, and no matter how long or far this fall might be, she would arrive at the ground safe and sound, not a single scratch from her body. So she let go of doubt she had, and just let herself be, not worried in the least what Alyona could do while inhabiting her body. Xoxoxoxoxo When he awoke next time - this time no doubts about Elena’s feelings in his mind - he basked in the knowing of how she felt. It didn’t last very long though; only a few minutes it took him to understand that the easy times where already over, even before they had really begun. It wasn’t even a minute after she woke up, and he already had realized that the woman in arms? NOT Elena. Her eyes held too much self-importance, and she held herself more like a queen than the 21th century young woman that she was. Slowly he shook his head, unbelieving that after only one night all he had wished for - and finally gotten - had gone to hell again.
“You’re not Elena.”
A lazy smile was his first answer, and then...
“Indeed, I am not. She allowed me to borrow her body... don’t worry though, I fully intend on giving it back to her. I just have to have a talk with my husband first. A talk that’s been long overdue.”
He blinked a few times and slammed his head against the headboard once; but no, her words still failed to make any sense to him. At all.
“And who might that husband of yours be? Don’t worry though, I fully intend on not caring. Give Elena back. Now.”
The last few words had been snide and biting, and even an idiot would have gathered the thinly veiled threat behind them. But the-woman-that-wasn’t-Elena just blinked at him as if he had grown a second head, before she answered his question, completely disregarding the rest of his words.
“Menelaus, of course. You really should... oh, for a moment there I forgot. This is not home. You wouldn’t know this name.”
“Yeah well, I don’t even know your name. And you’re in my bed. Naked.”
Her eyes widened, just now taking in their states of undress, and she quickly looked down at herself and sighed in relief as she saw that the sheet was covering all the important bits. As soon as she had lost her composure - however a short amount of time it was - she got it back.
“My name is Alyona. I am the queen of Sparta.”
She sat up straight at that, one hand holding the sheets securely in place, the other held out in a manner that showed the fact that she waited for him to take and kiss it. Something he sure as hell wasn’t about to do - alleged queen or not. Not while this Alyona-person kept him from Elena.
“Pleasure I’m sure. Now I would suggest that you’re going to get dressed. We have to get you to the bitch-witch so she can point her finger and pin this new debacle on me.”
With that he got out of bed, not caring he was naked. She would have to deal with it; it was her own fault that she had a bad timing. She should have just stolen Elena’s body when she was not still asleep after spending the night with him. But than again, she shouldn’t have stolen it, at all.
Xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo
It had taken him less force to get the woman to come with him to Bonnie. Actually, it hadn’t been a problem at all. She had just smiled pleasantly, dressed in Elenas discarded clothes, and went with him And wonder over wonder, after she had introduced herself to Judgy (and said Judgy witch had gasped and made a nice impersonation of a goldfish out of water for a moment), she had turned around and called - of all people - Elijah.
Now they were sitting in the Bennett’s living room, sipping on tea, waiting for the Original to arrive. Not even once did Bonnie even hint that any of this was his fault. In all honesty, it was creeping him the fuck out.
Bonnie never missed a chance to play a round of her favourite game: Let’s blame Damon. Really, this week turned out to be weirder than the whole rest of his existence altogether. And just when he thought it couldn’t get any stranger at all, another oddity rolled his way. He was pulled out of his musings as the doorbell rang.
The witch nearly jumped out of her seat and rushed to the door; a few seconds later she was back, Elijah - immaculately groomed as always - in tow. While Bonnie busied herself with readying another cup of tea, Elijah sat down and took a look at Elena. Suddenly he sat up straight - or well, straighter even than usual - and knitted his brows together. It was obvious that he had realized already that something wasn’t quite right with Elena. He had to give the man points for realizing it nearly as quickly as he had himself.
And the little body thief leaned forward, elbows on her knees, chin cushioned on her intertwined fingers and smiled; she smiled warm and soft, brilliantly. If he had even one poetic bone in his body, he would say something like ‘a smile that brought light even into the last corner of a windowless room’.
But as that wasn’t the case, the only thing that came to mind was, that it was a look similar to the one Elena had given him over her shoulder this morning, as she was disappearing into his shower, challenging him to follow. And then everything clicked into place. The reason she came with him without any hassle at all? Because she probably knew that she would get to see her husband all the faster like that.
“Alyona.”
One word only, but already Damon could tell that very soon he would get to see a side of Elijah that wasn’t all trimmed and proper or posh. Because in that one word, there was so much emotion, so much upheaval that it sparked a little sympathy even in him. Alyona though just smiled even brighter, laughter and love dancing in her eyes.
“Menelaus. My love.”
Without a moments warning the smile fell from her face and her expression darkened, a tear making its way out of the corner of her eye, leaving a single track down her cheek. And then she rushed forward, using her preternatural speed for all it was worth. Elijah met her halfway, and then they were clinging to each other, all tears, sobs and kisses, murmuring in a language he couldn’t understand. He felt like he was intruding in a far too intimate moment, like he got to see a wonder happening.
For a moment it wasn’t even important that technically, Elena was clinging to Elijah. Because Elena wasn’t here, and neither was Elijah. It was two very human people - two people very much in love - reuniting after too much time apart. He tried to shake the feeling that this was right... he really should hate that Elena was lost somewhere, without her body. That he couldn’t kiss and hold her right now - just like Elijah was kissing and holding his wife. But he knew the feeling to wish for something that he theoretically knew he couldn’t have. So he left his place on the couch, went to where Bonnie was staring at the two of them like hypnotized, and grabbed her hand. She was so startled, that she didn’t even protest as he pulled her out of the living room and into the kitchen. Only there she found her brain again, and promptly pulled her arm out of his grip.
“What the fuck, Damon! What’s wrong with you?”
He felt the strong need to roll his eyes at her, but decided to restrain himself - still no vampire-healing, and this time there was nobody here who could get in between the witch and her headache trick.
“Nothing is wrong with me... well, not more than usual. They just seemed to need a little time alone; without prying eyes.”
Bonnie just stared at him with wide eyes, seemingly not comprehending what he had just said.
“Alone...time. Since when are you nice? You’re never nice - Stefan is the nice brother here! Oh wait... you’re not gone too, right? You’re still Damon? Or did someone steal your body too?”
He would have laughed if it wasn’t so sad. He wasn’t really that bad, right? Surely it couldn’t be possible that the witch would rather believe in a weird body-snatcher theory than in him being nice? Sighing he sat down on one of the chairs around the kitchen table, suddenly feeling every day of his 150 plus years of existence.
“No Bonnie, nobody stole my body. I’m still me; self-serving psychopath with no redeeming qualities, and all that. It might be a good idea to get it into your head that I can be more than that, if I want to. And right now all I know is that just after a few seconds in the presence of his... wife... Elijah lost the broom he usually has up his ass and finally acting like a semi-human being. That has to count for something.”
Shaking her head ever-so-slightly, Bonnie sat down at the other side of the table, looking at him like she had never seen him before. This right now was probably the first time he really didn’t like the fact that he was human at the moment. Because usually he couldn’t care less about what Judgy thought of him but... right now it irked him somewhat that she was confused out of her mind, just because he acted nice.
“Look... I know you don’t like me - and it’s no secret that the feeling is mutual - but you have to lose this idea of yours that I’m the epitome of all things bad and evil. I might not be the nicest person out there... not even close, really... but I’m not the worst either. I’ll admit freely that for a long time, I took the easy way out. Shut off my feelings, and just went with what my instinct told me. And the instinct of a vampire is the same as that of a predator. But not even you can say that I’ve done anything that might justify you trying to make my head burst in the last few months. So can’t we just... agree on a.... truce, for the time being? At least until everything is a normal as it can get in Mystic Falls.”
Still blinking like an owl, Bonnie slowly stood up again, visibly fighting with herself, and with what she should do. Or wanted to do. But then she got this mulish look on her face that usually meant he was in the doghouse again. Moving around the table, she came to a stop only a step in front of him.
“Listen... Elena is my best friend, and I hate what is happening here right now. I hate that she is a vampire, and I hate that I can’t do anything against it for at least another six days. But... but she likes you, and she trusts you. So... until we have solved all of this... yes. I think we can do that.”
And then she held her hand out, similar to the way Alyona did earlier (only not quite, because Bonnie wouldn’t want him to kiss her hand). Only this time, he took his into his, and they both strengthened their grip, shaking hands.
“So, truce?” “Yes. Truce.”
Xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo
So. That’s that. Not much progress with the plot here, but now you’ve met Alyona for real so... please tell me what you think of her (and of this chapter as a whole). Just click on the little button below and leave me a few words - reviews are love, after all!
So long,
Lady
Author:
lady_slayer
Rating: T
Pairing: Damon/Elena,
Category: Hurt/comfort
Summary:Be careful what you wish for, or it might actually happen. Lives will get turned upside down, hearts get broken and everything is NOT the way it should be. Also... nothing good EVER came of a wish that starts with "I wish you could..."!
Warnings: A little blood, a bit more foul language, but nothing TOO bad.
Show/Bookverse: Show
Disclaimer: I do not own any of these characters. And the title is from “The Waste Land” by T.S. Eliot Spoiler: A few, I guess... but I don't really pick up on the actual show-plot, I just use a few newfound charactertraits (and new characters, like Elijah).
...Thank you sooo much, my darling AVECIA, you’re the BEST beta reader I can hope for. Also, thank you my lovely readers, and even more so, all of you reviewers - you always make my day! Disclaimer: I don’t own a thing about TVD, I just play with them because it’s so much fun! On with it!
xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo
Half a night and a few hours of sunlight was all they had been allowed to have; for one moment she was lying in Damons arms, and the next she was... well, NOT. She turned around and around, but still all she could see was darkness; all she could hear was the thundering of her own heartbeat in her ears.
There was nothing else. She was alone in no-man’s land. She had tried to speak, but her voice wouldn’t even reach her own ears. It was as if she was locked up in some sort of vacuum.
She couldn’t even feel the ground under her feet, moving more or less in thin air; it would be exciting... even exhilarating, if it wasn’t for the fact that everything was dark. That was, when she heard the voice. Her own voice only not. Because she was sure she never sounded like that... well, maybe when she had been reciting an old poem for class. “I do not wish you any harm, young Lady. But it has been so terribly long since I last wandered on earth.
All I could do was watch; I watched the world change and become something new and very terrifying for such a long time... I just wish to visit it once again.” Elena knew that she should be scared. But for some reason she couldn’t muster up the emotion. She felt safe and warm with the presence of this unknown woman around her.
“Well... if you want to... visit, then why didn’t you do it before now?”
“Because I could not find a way. You see, I died a long time ago. But my soul couldn’t wander to the Elysian Fields, because there was still too much for me to do."
Something in all of that seemed familiar to Elena. And then she remembered one school lesson about heaven and hell, and how different people thought of it all over time and place. And the Elysian Fields...
“You’re Alyona! You’re... you’re Helen of Troy!”
A soft sound - more tingling of tiny little bells than laughter - reached her ears then.
“That I am, Elena Gilbert from Mystic Falls. I am Alyona, I am the first of our bloodline to walk the earth. And now I am asking to borrow your body. Not for too long, I promise you that. Just for a little while. Just so I can feel the sun and the wind again. Just so I can tell my husband goodbye... I never got to tell him that.”
Blinking away the tears that suddenly had sprung to her eyes, Elena nodded, somehow knowing that Alyona would see it.
“Alright. I don’t know why, but I trust you. So... okay.”
There was the touch of a cold hand, and then someone kissed her on the cheek.
“Thank you. I promise I won’t disappoint your trust, Elena.”
It was a strange place there - wherever there was. But everything she felt, seemed to be more important than what she thought. Because normally, she would feel she could trust this woman, but her brain would tell her that it was too dangerous to trust someone she never even met. And then she suddenly felt like she was freefalling down from the sky, but still she was not afraid. She had the feeling that she was as soft and light as a feather, and no matter how long or far this fall might be, she would arrive at the ground safe and sound, not a single scratch from her body. So she let go of doubt she had, and just let herself be, not worried in the least what Alyona could do while inhabiting her body. Xoxoxoxoxo When he awoke next time - this time no doubts about Elena’s feelings in his mind - he basked in the knowing of how she felt. It didn’t last very long though; only a few minutes it took him to understand that the easy times where already over, even before they had really begun. It wasn’t even a minute after she woke up, and he already had realized that the woman in arms? NOT Elena. Her eyes held too much self-importance, and she held herself more like a queen than the 21th century young woman that she was. Slowly he shook his head, unbelieving that after only one night all he had wished for - and finally gotten - had gone to hell again.
“You’re not Elena.”
A lazy smile was his first answer, and then...
“Indeed, I am not. She allowed me to borrow her body... don’t worry though, I fully intend on giving it back to her. I just have to have a talk with my husband first. A talk that’s been long overdue.”
He blinked a few times and slammed his head against the headboard once; but no, her words still failed to make any sense to him. At all.
“And who might that husband of yours be? Don’t worry though, I fully intend on not caring. Give Elena back. Now.”
The last few words had been snide and biting, and even an idiot would have gathered the thinly veiled threat behind them. But the-woman-that-wasn’t-Elena just blinked at him as if he had grown a second head, before she answered his question, completely disregarding the rest of his words.
“Menelaus, of course. You really should... oh, for a moment there I forgot. This is not home. You wouldn’t know this name.”
“Yeah well, I don’t even know your name. And you’re in my bed. Naked.”
Her eyes widened, just now taking in their states of undress, and she quickly looked down at herself and sighed in relief as she saw that the sheet was covering all the important bits. As soon as she had lost her composure - however a short amount of time it was - she got it back.
“My name is Alyona. I am the queen of Sparta.”
She sat up straight at that, one hand holding the sheets securely in place, the other held out in a manner that showed the fact that she waited for him to take and kiss it. Something he sure as hell wasn’t about to do - alleged queen or not. Not while this Alyona-person kept him from Elena.
“Pleasure I’m sure. Now I would suggest that you’re going to get dressed. We have to get you to the bitch-witch so she can point her finger and pin this new debacle on me.”
With that he got out of bed, not caring he was naked. She would have to deal with it; it was her own fault that she had a bad timing. She should have just stolen Elena’s body when she was not still asleep after spending the night with him. But than again, she shouldn’t have stolen it, at all.
Xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo
It had taken him less force to get the woman to come with him to Bonnie. Actually, it hadn’t been a problem at all. She had just smiled pleasantly, dressed in Elenas discarded clothes, and went with him And wonder over wonder, after she had introduced herself to Judgy (and said Judgy witch had gasped and made a nice impersonation of a goldfish out of water for a moment), she had turned around and called - of all people - Elijah.
Now they were sitting in the Bennett’s living room, sipping on tea, waiting for the Original to arrive. Not even once did Bonnie even hint that any of this was his fault. In all honesty, it was creeping him the fuck out.
Bonnie never missed a chance to play a round of her favourite game: Let’s blame Damon. Really, this week turned out to be weirder than the whole rest of his existence altogether. And just when he thought it couldn’t get any stranger at all, another oddity rolled his way. He was pulled out of his musings as the doorbell rang.
The witch nearly jumped out of her seat and rushed to the door; a few seconds later she was back, Elijah - immaculately groomed as always - in tow. While Bonnie busied herself with readying another cup of tea, Elijah sat down and took a look at Elena. Suddenly he sat up straight - or well, straighter even than usual - and knitted his brows together. It was obvious that he had realized already that something wasn’t quite right with Elena. He had to give the man points for realizing it nearly as quickly as he had himself.
And the little body thief leaned forward, elbows on her knees, chin cushioned on her intertwined fingers and smiled; she smiled warm and soft, brilliantly. If he had even one poetic bone in his body, he would say something like ‘a smile that brought light even into the last corner of a windowless room’.
But as that wasn’t the case, the only thing that came to mind was, that it was a look similar to the one Elena had given him over her shoulder this morning, as she was disappearing into his shower, challenging him to follow. And then everything clicked into place. The reason she came with him without any hassle at all? Because she probably knew that she would get to see her husband all the faster like that.
“Alyona.”
One word only, but already Damon could tell that very soon he would get to see a side of Elijah that wasn’t all trimmed and proper or posh. Because in that one word, there was so much emotion, so much upheaval that it sparked a little sympathy even in him. Alyona though just smiled even brighter, laughter and love dancing in her eyes.
“Menelaus. My love.”
Without a moments warning the smile fell from her face and her expression darkened, a tear making its way out of the corner of her eye, leaving a single track down her cheek. And then she rushed forward, using her preternatural speed for all it was worth. Elijah met her halfway, and then they were clinging to each other, all tears, sobs and kisses, murmuring in a language he couldn’t understand. He felt like he was intruding in a far too intimate moment, like he got to see a wonder happening.
For a moment it wasn’t even important that technically, Elena was clinging to Elijah. Because Elena wasn’t here, and neither was Elijah. It was two very human people - two people very much in love - reuniting after too much time apart. He tried to shake the feeling that this was right... he really should hate that Elena was lost somewhere, without her body. That he couldn’t kiss and hold her right now - just like Elijah was kissing and holding his wife. But he knew the feeling to wish for something that he theoretically knew he couldn’t have. So he left his place on the couch, went to where Bonnie was staring at the two of them like hypnotized, and grabbed her hand. She was so startled, that she didn’t even protest as he pulled her out of the living room and into the kitchen. Only there she found her brain again, and promptly pulled her arm out of his grip.
“What the fuck, Damon! What’s wrong with you?”
He felt the strong need to roll his eyes at her, but decided to restrain himself - still no vampire-healing, and this time there was nobody here who could get in between the witch and her headache trick.
“Nothing is wrong with me... well, not more than usual. They just seemed to need a little time alone; without prying eyes.”
Bonnie just stared at him with wide eyes, seemingly not comprehending what he had just said.
“Alone...time. Since when are you nice? You’re never nice - Stefan is the nice brother here! Oh wait... you’re not gone too, right? You’re still Damon? Or did someone steal your body too?”
He would have laughed if it wasn’t so sad. He wasn’t really that bad, right? Surely it couldn’t be possible that the witch would rather believe in a weird body-snatcher theory than in him being nice? Sighing he sat down on one of the chairs around the kitchen table, suddenly feeling every day of his 150 plus years of existence.
“No Bonnie, nobody stole my body. I’m still me; self-serving psychopath with no redeeming qualities, and all that. It might be a good idea to get it into your head that I can be more than that, if I want to. And right now all I know is that just after a few seconds in the presence of his... wife... Elijah lost the broom he usually has up his ass and finally acting like a semi-human being. That has to count for something.”
Shaking her head ever-so-slightly, Bonnie sat down at the other side of the table, looking at him like she had never seen him before. This right now was probably the first time he really didn’t like the fact that he was human at the moment. Because usually he couldn’t care less about what Judgy thought of him but... right now it irked him somewhat that she was confused out of her mind, just because he acted nice.
“Look... I know you don’t like me - and it’s no secret that the feeling is mutual - but you have to lose this idea of yours that I’m the epitome of all things bad and evil. I might not be the nicest person out there... not even close, really... but I’m not the worst either. I’ll admit freely that for a long time, I took the easy way out. Shut off my feelings, and just went with what my instinct told me. And the instinct of a vampire is the same as that of a predator. But not even you can say that I’ve done anything that might justify you trying to make my head burst in the last few months. So can’t we just... agree on a.... truce, for the time being? At least until everything is a normal as it can get in Mystic Falls.”
Still blinking like an owl, Bonnie slowly stood up again, visibly fighting with herself, and with what she should do. Or wanted to do. But then she got this mulish look on her face that usually meant he was in the doghouse again. Moving around the table, she came to a stop only a step in front of him.
“Listen... Elena is my best friend, and I hate what is happening here right now. I hate that she is a vampire, and I hate that I can’t do anything against it for at least another six days. But... but she likes you, and she trusts you. So... until we have solved all of this... yes. I think we can do that.”
And then she held her hand out, similar to the way Alyona did earlier (only not quite, because Bonnie wouldn’t want him to kiss her hand). Only this time, he took his into his, and they both strengthened their grip, shaking hands.
“So, truce?” “Yes. Truce.”
Xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo
So. That’s that. Not much progress with the plot here, but now you’ve met Alyona for real so... please tell me what you think of her (and of this chapter as a whole). Just click on the little button below and leave me a few words - reviews are love, after all!
So long,
Lady