Title: THE SWEETEST TASTE OF REVENGE
Pairing: Damon (Stefan, Jeremy, Elena, Caroline, Bonnie in the background) possibly Damon/Elijah in the end
Genre: Angst, Friendship, Family, Romance
Rating: T
Chapters: 1/?
Status: Incomplete
Summary: After Alaric's death Damon withdrawn to himself, hurting in silence. Stefan's idea to do a memorial pushes him to the deepest end.

Disclaimer: Don't own TVD.

AN/ He he…I know I should be working on IFYP, but this idea didn't want to leave my head, so before I go, I decided to post it. Here is something I wrote last night. To tell you the truth, I have no idea where I'm heading with this. I just know it will be bloody and angsty. The scenes are slightly different from the show, but I have my reasons for it. This is just a little something while you all are waiting for IFYP. And my return from the seaside! It will probably be a Delijah in the end, though. Hope you like it and leave me a thought or two.

Chapter 1

He was dead. Dead with a capital D. For real, this time. His friend, his only friend in over 150 years, his lover, the man he loved with al his heart, was dead.

Damon was on his knees, clutching the lifeless body to his. His heart broke when he, no longer heard the beat of Ric's heart, when he let out the last breath, when he closed his hazel eyes forever.

"Ric! No! No! No! You're not dead! You're not dead! Please Ric? Please open your eyes? Wake up! Please wake up! Please?! I need you Ric. Please…." His voice was hoarse and strange, even to him, but he didn't care.

He kept repeating the words, he kept pleading, rocking the body as if it was a baby, while tears were falling. Tears full of pain and despair. He didn't care that it was the first time in his whole life he cried. His lover was gone and it hurt. It hurt so much he was barely keeping himself together. He was falling apart.

He ignored the constant ring of his phone. He knew who was calling him. Stefan. Telling him, in the voicemails, that Elena is dead too. But that thought didn't hurt as much as the reality he didn't want to accept. Ric was dead. And he never told him how much he loved him. There was never a good time for that. They were constantly fighting the Originals. And the nights they spend in each other arms having sex, or drinking their emotions and loneliness at the grill, were not the ideal place for those three little words. I love you. He should've said them, he knew that now, but it was too late. Once again, he was alone. And it hurt.

He will never again feel the warm touch of Ric's fingers on his skin. Never again feel the warm breath on his lips, when Ric would kiss him in the mornings. When he would kiss him before drifting to sleep. Or just because he felt the need to. Never again hear the melody of Ric's voice. Never again taste the sweet nectar of his blood...

Never again...

They had so little time together. And now, he was left with nothing. Only memories...

The early sunrise shock him and he realized he had to leave before anyone stumbles on them. He had no strength to compel humans to forget. Barely managing, he stood up, and still holding Ric's lifeless body, walked toward his car, and gently placed him on the back seat. He drove back to Mystic Falls and went straight to the cemetery. He picked one lovely and secluded place under the willow tree, and then with a shovel he always carried in his truck, started digging a hole. He worked fast and methodically, then put the body inside. Placing a gentle kiss on Ric's lips, he promised.

"I will avenge you."

After closing the hole up, he walked back toward his car and drove toward the Boarding House.

/

Stefan was there, sitting in one of the many sofas in the living room, and he gasped at the site of his brother. He looked broken.

"Damon! Thank god! I thought you are dead. I tried to call you, but you didn't answer. Are you okay?" Stefan asked worriedly, watching as his brother walked straight toward the liquor cabinet and poured himself a big glass of Bourbon.

"Yeah, well, I knew what you were going to tell me. Elena is dead." Damon answered without turning, pouring himself a second glass.

"Actually..." Stefan didn't know how to break the news to his brother. "...she is not."

"Excuse me?" Damon asked and slowly turned, looking at his brother who was starting to squirm under his piercing blue eyes.

"Her injuries were fatal and…"

"And what?"

"Meredith gave her your blood. She died with your blood in her system."

Stefan finally managed to say the whole thing and he watched his brother closely. And suddenly afraid. He didn't know what to expect from Damon. Elena was alive, well, semi alive, and Alaric, Damon's friend and lover, he suspected, was not. Yes. He knew about Damon and Alaric. He had heard them once as he was passing Damon's room, but since they didn't go public, he never said a word. And there was a fact he could smell Alaric on Damon, and vice versa. He watched Damon processing his words, he noticed the slight shake of his hand, before he put the glass down. The calm, emotionless voice surprised Stefan.

"I see." Damon finally spoke, and went upstairs to his room.

Damon ignored Stefan who was saying his name and went to take a shower. Feeling the hot water on his body, he let go and started shaking and sobbing.

/

Days passed. Elena completed the transition and with Stefan's and Caroline's help, was getting through the blood thirst. She quickly adapted to the blood bags, but her emotions were another problem. She decided against telling anyone about the two compulsions she remembered. After all, she choose Stefan and she loved Stefan. But the loss of her aunt, her adopted parents, her biological parents and Alaric was still present and she cried herself to sleep every night. Jeremy told her that Alaric appeared once and told him where Damon had buried him, and they made a grave stone for him.

A week later Bonnie came clean about what she had done, transferring Klaus into Tyler's body before Alaric killed him with a stake. Stefan was worried for his brother. He hadn't moved from his room in weeks, he only came down to get more alcohol and blood. And he never said a word. Not a single word. He was like a ghost in their big house, and he missed his cockiness. He missed everything. Damon was a shell of the man he used to be.

After over a month of that same routine, he decided it was time he do something. Remembering the old Japanese tradition of letting go of the past, he told everyone to meet at the empty lawn near the graveyard. He arrived last, with Damon, barely managed to convince him to leave the Boarding House.

"What are we doing here, Stefan?" Damon asked hoarsely.

Those were the first words he spoke since Stefan told him about Elena being alive. Stefan prayed that this was the right call. He couldn't watch his brother suffering anymore, or hear his cries at night while he was under the shower.

"There is this tradition in Japan…" Stefan started, looking at the people around him, then his eyes landed on Damon. "…they lit the lanterns and let them fly toward the sky. It's their way of letting go of the past. We need to start healing. We've all lost so much and I think we're numb to it. We push it away, we make a joke out of it, ignore how we feel. We've never just let ourselves grieve. Damon, I know you loved him, I know what he was to you, but you need to let him go. You need to start healing. We all do."

Stefan ignored the surprised gasps around him when he basically told them that Damon and Alaric were more than just friends. He had his eyes focused on Damon, and he watched him closely, looking for any emotion, but he couldn't see any. His walls were so high that not one single emotion was visible. He just stood there like a statue.

Damon was struggling hearing Stefan's words, his heart was breaking bit by bit, but he didn't let it show, he didn't show how they affected him. His mask was on, and he didn't even cared that now everyone knew about him and Alaric. He watched as Stefan lit his lantern, saying his goodbye to their uncle Zack, Lexi and Alaric. Matt said his goodbye to his sister Vicki. Caroline to hers and Tyler's dad, Bonnie to her grams. Elena to her parents, Jenna, everyone that they all lost, including what the whole town had lost, and to herself. Jeremy was the last one. He said his goodbye to his and Elena's parents, Vicki, Anna, Jenna and lastly, to Alaric.

Damon just stood there, while their words cut him like a knife. He purposely ignored the lighter Jeremy was handing to him. And he ignored Jeremy's surprised and sudden gasp.

"You know something, Stefan?" He spoke, but even to him his voice sounded strange. "You're absolutely right. I should let him go. I should let go of everything. Because, there's nothing left."

It took a few moments for Stefan to comprehend what exactly his brother was saying, but when it finally clicked, it was too late. He, and everyone else watched as Damon's bright blue eyes turned into a dark black.

"Damon. No! Please brother?" Stefan pleaded, eyes filling with tears, but it was too late. Damon had switched and shut out his emotions and humanity.

"Damon. Alaric said if you do this, he will never forgive you." Jeremy said, repeating Alaric's words.

He was shocked when suddenly Alaric appeared and stood by Damon, crying. He watched as Alaric caressed Damon's face looking at him with such love he could actually feel it. He took a step back when Damon's, now black eyes, landed on him. For one moment, there was a flick of blue and a single tear fell, then Damon turned his head toward his left side, as if he could actually feel Alaric beside him, which was impossible, since Alaric was now a ghost. If Damon could see Alaric, he would be now looking straight into his eyes.

"Well, he isn't here anymore." Damon said and they could hear the pain in his voice, then once again, his eyes were black, and void of any emotion.

"Brother." Stefan said brokenly, when Damon started to walk away. "Where are you going? Please turn them back. Find your humanity again. Damon Please?"

"I'm not your brother anymore." Damon sneered, not turning back.

Stefan couldn't believe what was happening. His brother was gone. And this time, there was nothing that could make Damon turn his humanity back on. Because Alaric who was the only one capable of that, was dead. He dropped on his knees, crying, while he watched a shell of his brother walking away.

Everyone was too shocked to move. Elena was silently crying in Caroline's arms and even Bonnie had tears in her eyes. Jeremy was watching Alaric who was crying for his lover, whispering his name.

/

Damon walked toward the Boarding House and when he arrived, he went straight to his room. He put his clothes in one bag, and weapons in the other. From his nightstand, he took the stake of a white oak tree. He could feel the power within and smiled evilly.

"Finn, Rebekah, Kol, Klaus, Elijah. The revenge is mine!"

TBC (someday)

AN/ For the sake of this story, the memorial is slightly different and both Finn and Kol are alive. This is probably going to be a short story, three or four chapters max, but I don't know how to continue. I may end up with Delijah pairing, but for now it's just Damon. If you have any ideas, let me know.

See ya in a few weeks!