The Falling of the Dark

DG32173

Sarah: well, now I know why my muse woke up again. I got the idea for almost the entire storyline of what will be a series of at least two books, possibly more, while in the shower. This will be my first ever attempt at a full story that is sci-fi and action/adventure with only touches of romance. Let me know what you think after you've read the prologue and tell me if you think I should stick with my usual romance/drama stories or if this seems interesting enough to continue. Anyways, pre-story stuff and then the prologue.

CREDIT
Credit goes to my amazing beta, crzykittyfangirl, for her help when I was having trouble with a title and summary as well as being willing to work with me on my stories around her busy schedule. Thanks so much.

DISCLAIMER
I own this story as it is written. I do believe I own the plot as I will write it, though I'm not sure on that part. If I own any particular concept that is portrayed within this story, I will claim it before the chapter it appears in. If my beta or a reviewer inspires a scene or concept, I will put a credit section like the above and give credit to the one who inspired it before the chapter it appears in. Everything you recognize, though there won't be much as this takes place in the distant future, belongs to someone else with a much bigger bank account than me. There is your disclaimer, you won't get another one.

ALTERNATE UNIVERSE! PLEASE READ!
This is a complete AU, not just altering the show's storyline to something I like better but a totally different universe altogether. As you can tell by the summary, this AU takes place in a distant future after humanity has discovered the existence of the supernatural, hence the sci-fi genre.

WARNINGS
As for other warnings, rated M for more than my usual mature content. This story takes place during a global war, so there will be violence and grisly death. There will be dark themes insinuated about the horrors facing wartime prisoners, though I don't think I'll go into too much detail there. Of course, fans of my usual mature content will be glad to know it will be there as well, just not as much nor as quickly as is usual of me. Be aware of very different versions of the cast from the show. This is a war; they won't have any innocence left in such situations as they find themselves in. That's all the warnings I can think of, though there are plenty of things I probably haven't thought of yet that I should be warning you about. Be aware that Elena will have the biggest personality change from the show at the beginning, though towards the end of the book, she'll be a little more like the Elena we all know and love. Alternating viewpoints, primarily between Damon and Elena but involving the whole cast over the course of the story. There are your warnings. Take heed of them and don't complain if you see something I warned you about and you don't like it. Prologue is told from Damon's perspective.

SUMMARY
The year is 2264. In a world where the supernatural is commonplace, a war between humans and the supernatural races has been raging for too long. There is a prophecy of a woman who might be able to save them all. If she can overcome deep rooted personal issues and trust one of the very beings she's been taught to fear, then just maybe peace can be achieved. Damon/Elena

Prologue

'It's been two hundred years and the war still has no end in sight,' I think wearily, grateful that the humans around me have no notion that I'm one of the creatures they have spent the past two hundred years at war with, ever since the supernatural became public knowledge. 'Where is the damn doppelganger that prophecy told of? The latest generation of witches all say the time of prophecy has arrived but no one on either side of this goddamned war can find the doppelganger! It's as if she vanished off the face of the world fifteen years ago! That's the last trace anyone can find of her.'

I finger the plasma gun hiding under my leather jacket as I sense someone coming up behind me. Then I realize it's that new guy in our group, Jeremy Gilbert. He tends to keep to himself and I've been tasked with earning his trust to find out just what happened to his sister. The only thing we know is that he is the younger brother of the doppelganger of prophecy and both he and she disappeared fifteen years ago out of their parents' yard one day. He only reappeared five years ago, a newborn vampire set free with no sire to be found anywhere but somehow in ridiculous control of himself. But his sister is still 'missing' and he's the only link to wherever she might be.

He takes a seat across from me, in the booth with its back to the wall of this dreary little bar he asked me to meet him in alone. "You came," he murmurs, as if it's a surprise though we both know it's not.

"You knew I would. You know what my task with you is," I reply shortly.

He grunts, his eyes never stopping their constant scan of the room around us. Another thing I've noted is he is always on guard and vigilant, even when the rest of the group is relaxed and chilling in our secret lair. "True enough," he says softly. He rarely speaks louder than what humans would call a whisper and flinches whenever he hears a loud noise. The ten years he had disappeared are still a complete mystery but the group has figured that he must have been a war prisoner somewhere, him and his sister both. All his actions and reactions point to that rather obvious conclusion.

He's silent for a while and I let him have his time. Over the past five years since he reluctantly joined our group, we've all learned that there is no rushing this one. He'll speak his peace when he's ready and when he does, you better damn well listen because he doesn't repeat himself and what he has to say is usually of grave importance. The human waitress comes over to take his order, which is his usual bourbon, not even on the rocks. Even I admire him for not diluting his alcohol even with ice, something not even I would do.

Only after the waitress has placed his bourbon before him and left again does he speak. "I know you want to know about my sister," he says quietly.

I immediately go on the alert, though I don't change my relaxed slouch even the slightest. Could this be it? Could he finally have decided to share what he knows about the doppelganger's location? He hisses a laugh because I don't fool him, even though he's nearly four hundred years my junior. "Yeah, the big question the whole world is asking: what happened to Elena Gilbert, the doppelganger of prophecy?" he murmurs. "I'm not the only one who knows where she is but I can tell you the others who have this knowledge would never share it, would never risk her being saved from that hellhole to fulfill her destiny." He takes a large swallow of his bourbon. "She's not even really my sister, I've found out. She's actually my cousin but we were raised as siblings by the same parents. She doesn't even know I'm still around. She probably thinks they killed me."

"Who?" I ask softly.

"Who else? The Crimson Guard," he replies.

I tense. The whole world knows of the Crimson Guard and their determination to end the war their way. There are actually three sides to this war: humans, supernatural, and the Crimson Guard, which consists of members of both the other two sides. No one knows just what their plans are, but no one wants them to win this war. Thankfully, they are just a small faction, even after two centuries of gaining recruits. Even the supernaturals that aren't a part of them outnumber their whole outfit about thirty to one.

"How did they get their hands on you two?" I ask.

"We were kids. She was seven, I was five. We were always warned to have someone with us when we went outside and to never go anywhere with anyone our parents didn't introduce us to. But one especially nice summer day when our mom was sleeping and our dad was training the human militia in our town, we wanted to go outside and play. We were too young to be thinking about war or consequences. We were told to never wake mom up when she was napping and we didn't want to wait. 'We'd just be in the front yard. All our neighbors would see if anything happened,' we thought. So we went outside. And we were captured by a new neighbor who had rented a house on our street just for the purpose of capturing the doppelganger. Only I was with her and they couldn't leave a witness behind and that particular person didn't feel comfortable killing a kid. So I was captured, too, and spent the next ten years in a hellhole beyond imagining, until they decided I would be more useful to them as a vampire. Only, when I awoke, I managed to escape because they didn't think I would wake up so soon in transition and had relaxed their guard. I know they took me to a different part of their compound than where Elena had been kept and I knew what they had done to me. I knew I didn't have the strength to save my sister and that I would need help of a much older vampire if I were ever to save her. So, with great reluctance, I left her there, still trapped, thinking I was dead, as I made my escape. But I didn't know who to trust on the outside. Anyone could be a member of the Crimson Guard and I wouldn't realize it until it's too late. So I've been biding my time, waiting until I found someone I was sure wasn't one of them, someone I could trust to save my sister for me. We spent ten years sharing the same godforsaken cell, dammit. Our bond, which was strong to begin with, is now so deep that I physically ache every time I think of what those monsters must still be doing to her, what they did to her in front of me while I was helpless to stop them."

I'm silent, for this is the most emotional I have seen him in the entire five years I've known him. His eyes are blazing with righteous fury over his memories, his softly spoken words filled with barely bridled rage. He takes a deep breath, obviously getting control of himself before he continues. "Anyways, I've come to realize that even in spite of what I know you were tasked with, I have come to trust you, Damon, as I trust no one else except my sister. So now I will tell you where she's being held so you can save her from those monsters. But first you must promise me you will go alone and tell no one else. I know how you feel about the promises you make. I know you'd rather die than break a promise. That's why I'm demanding the promise before I tell you where she is."

I stay silent for a while, contemplating his words. In the four hundred years since I became a vampire, my powers have grown far beyond what they should be at this point. If I needed to, I could telepath someone I know and trust no matter how far they are from me, even if they are on the opposite side of the world. "Not even Bonnie?" I ask softly, naming the witch who made his daylight ring and he obviously cares about a great deal.

"It will be difficult enough for one person to get in there and get her out without raising the alarm," he replies. "I don't want anyone else brought in unless you're captured. I have a pretty good idea as to some of your capabilities. That's another reason I chose you to tell and not anyone else."

I nod. "Fine. I promise that unless I'm compromised on this mission, I will tell no one what you tell me until after I save your sister," I say.

He relaxes just slightly and I realize he had been worried I'd refuse to make the promise. I won't tell him now, but he's come to be one of the very few people I'd call a friend. Maybe after I rescue his sister, I'll let him know. "Before I tell you where she is, I need to tell you something only she and I would know so that she will trust that I'm the one who sent you to her," he says softly. I arch an eyebrow, silently urging him to continue. "We never talked about our lives before our capture while we were both prisoners and I'm sure she's told no one what I'm about to tell you since I escaped. So she'll know the only way you know this is if I told you and sent you to help her. Elena was born with a natural birthmark on her left hip at the juncture where her hip met her leg. A birthmark so sharply outlined that many would mistake it for a tattoo. It had been of two conjoined hearts with an arrow piercing through them. When she was six and I was four, our parents had it covered up by a tattoo that incorporated the birthmark into it and hid what it really was. Neither of us ever found out why they did this, but the tattoo covers all of her left hip and goes down her left leg for a couple of inches, consisting of seemingly random hearts and arrows and other geometric patterns, though her birthmark is outlined in ice blue ink."

I nod. I have found I know the ancient prophecy Elena is part of far better than her brother. That birthmark was mentioned in the prophecy as an important key, though even I don't know the full details of why. "Alright. I'll tell her this if she asks for proof that I know you," I say softly. "Now, where is she?"

"Azkaban," he whispers.

I feel my borrowed blood leaving my face. The once fictional prison of an ancient book series long forgotten in this era is the name of the only known stronghold of the Crimson Guard and it is a place no outsiders have ever been known to return from once they go there. "And you know how I can get in and out without getting caught?" I hiss at him angrily.

"Do you ever wonder where I disappear to every month?" he asks softly. My eyes widen in shock at what he's implying. We've all noticed that once a month, Jeremy disappears for a few days only to return, even quieter and grimmer than before for about a week before he can get his emotions under control again. He couldn't actually be returning to that place, can he? As if he read my thoughts, which he probably did just by reading my face, he nods. "That's where I go. I've been keeping an eye on my sister, though I can't get to her as I am now. She's still there, still in the same cell we shared when I was still a prisoner. If I were older and stronger and had different powers than the ones I got, I'd be able to save her myself. But I'm not and I don't. You have the right combination of age, strength, and powers to have a chance to save her. After what I saw last time, I know she won't last much longer in there without losing everything that makes her who she is. While I was there, I managed to get my hands on a copy of the blueprints to the entire damn fortress," he says, reaching into his jacket and pulling out a holo-disc, one of many advances in technology made in the past two centuries in spite of the war. "I'm a pretty good hacker, if I do say so myself. I managed to reprogram it to respond only to either my right thumbprint or yours. And once you see just how detailed those blueprints are, you should have no trouble evading the guards and figuring out a way to free Elena. Right now, she's the only prisoner they have in that damn place and I personally think the number of guards there is extreme overkill for a human who's just about given up any hope of escape other than death. But that's just me."

I take the holo-disc and pocket it, being careful not to activate it in this crowded bar. No telling who's around or which side of the war they're on. "I'll save your sister, kid," I say softly. "The Crimson Guard won't have her much longer, I can promise you that."

"I've got copies of the holo-disc, but don't let them find it on you if they happen to catch you. I can't be sure that they won't alter all the layers of defense if they find out you have it," he warns. "And I have a sinking feeling that this is our only shot at freeing Elena before she gives up completely. She had managed to get her hands on a knife when I was there without the guards seeing and hid it in her cell. I don't think she's used it yet, but I know her well enough to know she didn't steal it to try to use in an attempt to free herself, if you know what I mean."

I feel fear grab hold of me. If he's implying that the doppelganger is getting suicidal, that could spell disaster for every race. "I'll leave for Azkaban directly from here," I murmur, standing up and tossing enough credits on the table to cover our drinks.

"Thank you, Damon. I knew I could trust you," Jeremy murmurs, standing up as well.

"Don't thank me until after I've saved your sister," I retort as we make our way out of the bar. We go our separate ways after we get outside. This is going to be the most dangerous mission I have ever been on. The risk of disaster is the greatest it has ever been, and the stakes are at their highest peak. But if I succeed, if I save the doppelganger, the ancient prophecy about peace finally being found between the races will finally be able to come true.

Once I make it to my sky-car, I turn up the tint on the windows to maximum and pull out the holo-disc. I need to memorize the details of what's ahead of me before I get there. I press my thumb to the lock and it lights up green after scanning my thumb. As soon as it does that, a rather large hologram with the most detailed blueprints I have ever seen unfolds from the projector. Within the holographic blueprints are routes the guards take on their patrols as well as the times of their patrols and shift changes. And that's only a small fraction of all the information on this holo-disc. I whistle softly. "Damn, you're good, Jeremy," I murmur, though he can't hear me now. I quickly memorize every detail contained on the holo-disc, no matter how mundane and insignificant it seems. No telling what detail I'll need to free the doppelganger.

As soon as I've memorized it, I lock it again by pressing my thumb against the lock once more before storing it in the glove compartment of my sky-car. To the untrained eye, every holo-disc in there is identical enough to be unidentifiable individually without unlocking each one to see what it contains. But as a vampire of four centuries, my vision and mind are sharp enough to make out the microscopic variations between each holo-disc.

As soon as I mix up the holo-discs, I start my sky-car and program in the address for Azkaban. A small alarm sounds and a warning that this location is lethal comes at that, telling me to enter my override key if I'm sure I want to go there. I enter my override key and the sky-car lifts out of the parking lot and starts making its way to Azkaban. I miss my old 1969 Chevy Camaro and actually driving on an actual road. But it had served me well for nearly a century-and-a-half before I could no longer find the parts required for its upkeep. It's now showcased in all its glory behind protective shielding in the lair, along with Stefan's Porsche and a few other ancient things the vampires of our group feel pretty damn sentimental about.

If it weren't for the fact that Jeremy's sister is the doppelganger of prophecy, the first doppelganger to be born since the War of Races broke out, then I damn well wouldn't be heading to Azkaban, no matter how I feel about Jeremy. But she is the doppelganger of prophecy, and as such, her life is more valuable to this world than any other life in history and countless lives would be sacrificed willingly by all to protect hers. She is the only one who can bring a peaceful end to this damn war that's been going on far longer than any other war in history. Vampires have been talking about simply using our power of compulsion to enslave the human race for the past fifty years and now even witches and werewolves are starting to agree that if the doppelganger isn't found soon, that will be the only way of ending the war.

My group, as well as some other groups scattered around, are still resistant to enslaving the human race, determined to find the doppelganger at any cost before it's too late. Enough groups are resistant that the rest of the supernaturals don't have a big enough majority to safely do what they want without causing a civil war among the supernaturals. Now that I know where the doppelganger's been imprisoned for the past fifteen years, I can't leave her there. I have to do everything in my Power to save her or die trying. She's the only way to prevent the enslavement of an entire race and end this godforsaken war.

It will take a few hours before even my sky-car, which is the fastest model on the market today, will make it to Azkaban so I decide to fuel up on the blood bags I store in the mini-fridge most high-end sky-cars come with and then spend the rest of the time resting my body while my brain goes over plans to free the doppelganger using the information on the holo-disc that Jeremy gave me. I'll only know the exact plan I'll use when I get my feet on the ground at Azkaban and see the place for myself in the real world rather than as a holographic blueprint.

Sarah: and there's the prologue that my muse came up with in just a little over two hours. It turned out rather differently than I had thought it would, but I like it better this way. Review and tell me what you think and if you think I should continue with this fanfic or give up and go back to my normal romance/drama storytelling. I personally feel that this might be one of my best efforts given half a chance, but that's just me. I want the take of you readers on it before I post more.