A/N: Well my plan to write one story at a time was shot all to hell. Lol oh well. So I was watching the Vampire Diaries and the episode always makes me mad. Seriously? Damon ya know how to rip my heart out **Sniffles** Anyway, I don't believe him. The emotion behind that one word, when Klaus was burning Stefan's arm and Damon said 'Stop'! It was so desperate. Anyway, sorry for a long AN. This follows nothing after the episode.

Episode Tag- 03x13 Bringing Out The Dead- Goes AU.

Will Be Multi Chapter!

Rated T for later chapters, brotherly feels, lots of angst cuz these two drive me crazy and need to show more brotherly feels T.T

Night was drawn and darkness took, settling in to pitch black, save for the moon that illuminated light throughout the quiet woods. It's glow casted down peering out past the bare trees shinning towards the waiting ground. It bounced off the limbs lighting a way forward. The air was nice and cool with a soft wind that made the limbs shake from it's passing.

Stefan kept his head down as he trailed after his brother, Damon, who, walked ahead of him in slow strides. His shoulders were drawn up in silent tension and Stefan didn't have to see his face to know Damon's mind was an endless train of thoughts.

"Damon." Stefan called his brothers name in a soft whisper knowing he could hear him either way.

He wanted to ask so many questions. No matter how hard he tried to make Damon see that letting him go was the only option Damon pushed and kept pushing. He came after Stefan relentlessly, even after he killed the woman his brother seemed to take a liking to. Stefan had thought after killing her that Damon would retaliate, get angry and finally consider that maybe saving him was to much of a bother and just kill him instead. Yet, Damon surprised him and tried that much harder until they had him chained to a chair and trying to get him to flip his humanity on. Even then, Damon broke the chains holding him in place so they could go have a day out in the town. Damon's own way of getting the old Stefan back because despite what Stefan has done Damon knew just what to do to get Stefan feeling again.

Stefan did feel. In a way he always did even after Klaus forced him to turn it off. The feelings he had for Elena changed for that time but how he felt about Damon never did. His brother was the one person he still cared for and would save in an instant. Even if he came off cold hearted and told Damon he didn't care about him. Stefan would always care.

Damon slowed his steps but didn't turn around to face Stefan. "What?"

Stefan sighed. "Thanks. For saving me from Klaus." He wanted Damon to know just how much he appreciated it because Stefan meant it, every word. "You didn't have to but you did."

Stefan was now walking along Damon's side and his brother's head turned in his direction. Something of disbelief passed in Damon's sapphire orbs but then he smirked and said, "Shut up." His tone turned serious when he stated next, "You don't get to thank me until I've paid you back for all those times you saved me, Stefan."

Stefan smiled sadly then looked down. He felt a pain prickle his undead heart. He knows deep down Damon probably cared but, "You could have left me there," Damon didn't do it for him and he knew it way before Damon said anything.

Damon stopped. His gaze was somewhere far away, not saying a word and Stefan didn't know if he was even listening.

"Klaus would have killed me." Stefan stated matter of fact getting Damon's eyes to finally land on him, brows raised with a look Stefan couldn't contemplate. "You would have had Elena all to yourself."

He could see the gears grinding together in Damon's mind as he watched him closely. Damon's mouth was laid out in a straight line. He was silent for a moment before his phone vibrated and he pulled it out to see Elena's name light up the screen but he chose to ignore it.

Stefan knew what Damon's next words would be, a part of him didn't want to hear it, but he needed to hear them even if the words would string and rip out what part of his heart he had left.

Damon refused to meet his eyes making Stefan bite his lip anxiously. He was ready to hear the words but he would never prepared to hear them, to know how little Damon cared.

"I didn't do it for you." Damon's voice was neutral, calm but very loud to Stefan's ears, as he avoided his little brothers eyes.

Stefan closed his eyes and looked away. When they were human they were best friends, unbreakable, inseparable and their bond was something that couldn't be broken yet one girl, one mistake, had shattered that so called bond and turned them into enemies rather than brothers. Katherine toyed with them, played on their emotions and twisted them how she saw fit and easily made one Salvatore feel hatred for the other. Stefan never blamed Damon for it honestly. They had been compelled to love her and he saw no reason to hate Damon for something he couldn't control. That didn't stop his brother for making the threat of an eternity of misery though because Damon swore that compulsion had nothing to do with how he felt for Katherine. He blamed Stefan for Katherine's capture, for getting them shot, for everything that happened that night.

What really hurt was that Damon was right. Stefan was weak. Their father saw that and put vervain in his drink in order to get to Katherine and it was successful because the took Katherine that night and everything went to hell all because of him.

It was his fault.

He found himself apologizing for it for what seemed like the hundredth time. "I'm sorry Damon."

Damon's expression stayed the same as he glared at Stefan, taking the apology a whole different way. "I love Elena, too Stefan." The look Damon was giving him was cold and unmoving and he turned around leaving Stefan alone in the middle of the woods.

•••The Vampire Diaries•••

Stefan didn't go back to the boarding home. He wasn't so sure he should even call it that seeing how much damage he's done, the trouble he's caused.

So he walked around with his hands in his pockets and his head bowed slightly down. Walking, with no destination in mind but where his feet carried him. He was lost in thought, a voice inside his head remained a constant nuisance as it taunted and threatened to consume him with snide.

I didn't do it for you.

Of course Damon didn't do it for him. It was always for Elena. Everything his brother ever did never came from what was right and it didn't come from the heart. At least, not if it didn't involve Elena. Stefan loved her as well and even though his love for her was something that couldn't be severed, when it came down to choosing Elena or Damon, he had no doubt he would save his brother first. Stefan gave up so much just so Damon didn't die from the werewolf bite; his life with Elena, his freedom, his very being. All given up so that Damon would live and the bad thing is? That Stefan would do it again. He would lay everything down, sacrifice himself in the end for Damon because he was his brother. No matter how bad things were or got between them they were once best friends, an unbreakable duo. Brothers.

Stefan continued to walk. He didn't care where he was going. He certainly wasn't going back to the boarding home. Damon would be there and he didn't want to see him for the time being. He was far to hurt by Damon's words. It shouldn't have affected him. After all, he was not completely back to being the same old Stefan. He was still in a fight for his humanity. So how come his hollow heart sounded like it was breaking?

*Snap*

Stefan came to an abrupt stop when he heard a snapping of a tree limb. He looked around the darkened forest, not seeing anything but specs of light from the moon shunning its way in certain parts of the woods. His brows came together in confusion when he saw nothing out of the ordinary but he knew what he heard and something or someone was there with him, lurking somewhere in the darkness, hidden in camouflage of black.

He listened, using his senses as a vampire to hone in on the sounds human ears couldn't pick out, in hopes that he could hear a heartbeat but all that greeted him was weary silence.

"Damon?" He mumbled.

*Snap*

Stefan tensed when he heard it again. It came from somewhere behind him and he didn't have time to turn on his heels when he felt a sharp, prickling pain pierce his neck. He grunted and stumbled as something warm entered his blood stream before turning cold as it flowed through his veins, that were now visibly sticking out of his skin. Pain pulsated throughout his body and he jerked when his limbs tensed automatically. He went into a spasm a moment later, falling to the ground floor. He clenched his teeth as the pain caused every part of his body to stiffen, his neck thrown back, strained.

"Gah..." His hands clutched the grass. He tried to fight past the growing agony.

What the hell was that?

"Stefan Salvatore. I knew I would find you. I've known about you for awhile." A cold, male, voice sounded to his side but he was unable to even move a finger let alone his neck to see who it was.

"That...makes one...of us." He panted. His eyes slammed shut as another wave of pain went through his body.

Stefan was in serious trouble.

The guy laughed and Stefan wasn't sure if it was brought on by amusement as he cried out when the pain went to his head or at Stefan's comment. He tried to control his breathing but it was becoming very difficult.

"I've finally caught you. A hundred and some odd years of searching and here you are. Alone in the woods. Isn't that ironic."

A dark form swarmed Stefan's vision but he still couldn't make him out as the black edges of his vision made his sight useless. He took a shuddering breath. His skin was on fire yet his blood was ice cold and ran through him like icicles. Cold, chilling, sharp but past the fog that had formed in his mind he made out what the guy said and at that moment he really wished he could see the mans face.

"A hundred years...? You're a vampire..." Stefan breathed out. He was slowly losing his grip on consciousness.

He closed his eyes. He couldn't fight the darkness that threatened to consume him no matter how hard he tried to stay awake. The pain was now a small throb, and ache that prickled his skin in a barely noticeable touch but something was wrong. He could feel it but he couldn't comprehend it. His blank mind wouldn't let him and he found himself slowly seeing black as he fell into oblivion. Before he was lost completely, he heard;

"I've come back to kill you, Stefan but it will be an experience you won't forget. A slow, painful experience. Night night Salvatore."