Disclaimer: The Vampire Diaries isn't mine. Though I do have a secret plan to change that and make Damon my very own… *cackles evilly*

A/N: Yay! My first multi-chapter VD fic! *cheers excitedly* I hope all of you enjoy it, especially since it's AU. Anything can happen…and it'll also get us through until September. :D

Summary: AU During Fool Me Once, Damon didn't get out of the tomb in time, and was trapped. Five years later, he manages to escape. How have things changed in the outside world? And why are the citizens of Mystic Falls so afraid? *Delena*

Prologue

Damon's head was pounding, and he was having a very hard time keeping himself from lashing out at Stefan. Katherine wasn't in the tomb. All the other vampires that were supposed to be present were there, but she wasn't. The most important one. The one he had come to save.

Stefan was still talking, as he had been ever since coming in after him. "Damon, we need to get out of here," he said urgently, brow furrowed as it usually was.

"It doesn't make sense. They locked her inside," Damon muttered, more to himself than anyone else. He glanced around the shadowy cavern, enhanced vision skimming over the darkness and searching beneath it for any important detail he could be overlooking. Needless, to say there was nothing. Nothing at all.

"If we don't leave now, we're not getting out," Stefan said, words bouncing off the sturdy rock walls. He looked about thirty seconds from running for his life, he was that frantic.

"How could she not be in here?" Damon felt truly dead, for the very first time in all his second life. He couldn't bring himself to understand what was happening. Where the hell was Katherine?

Annoyingly, his little brother was still blathering on. "It's not worth spending all of eternity down here. She's not worth it."

"No!" Damon shouted, the single word sounding more like a noise of an agitated animal than actual language. He spun around to face Stefan, already seeing a perfectly clear vision in his mind's eye. It was of himself killing the brother he had taunted and not killed for so long. The rash action seemed a big waste, but Damon fiercely told himself he didn't care, preparing to strike.

"Damon!" For a moment, his entire body went rigid. His eyes flashed towards the familiar voice, then he saw Elena's face, pale in the beam of her flashlight. His shoulders slumped, and he steeled his expression. "Please," she begged him, glancing towards Stefan as she spoke. It was clear who she really wanted to escape tonight.

He stared at her a second longer, just to prove he didn't take orders from her, then abruptly straightened his leather jacket. Expression remaining a stony frown, he strode briskly towards her, determined to keep his mind away from the crushing failure he'd just experienced. Stefan patted him on the back as he fell in step beside him, though he was blessedly silent. Damon wasn't in the mood for any more mindless chatter at the moment.

Elena's steady steps faltered as they neared the entrance, and she looked over her shoulder. Damon's chest constricted at her beautiful face, so like Katherine's that he literally couldn't breathe. "Damon…I'm sorry that you didn't find her," she said. And he actually believed that she meant it.

"Elena! Elena, please! Grams and I can't – we can't–" Bonnie's breathless voice suddenly broke off, making her muffled warning all the more significant.

Stefan stepped around his fellow vampire and touched Elena's shoulder. "Come on. They're not going to be able to hold it up much longer," he said. He waited until she nodded, then jogged forward, around the rocky corner that jutted out to block a direct exit.

Damon couldn't bring himself to follow. He turned and stared listlessly in the direction they had come, though he felt no hope. "Where the hell is she?" he breathed, mentally cursing himself when his voice cracked.

"Don't torture yourself like this." Her voice was soft yet commanding as she walked slowly towards him. Damon steadily met her gaze, refusing to show weakness. She wasn't Katherine, and never would be. "Maybe she's out there somewhere. You can still find her."

He shook his head, excruciatingly stubborn. "She's supposed to be here. She's supposed to be in here, damn it!" he roared.

Elena's eyes widened, but she didn't step away. Instead, she reached out and took his hand. Her touch was warm, and he could easily smell her tantalizing blood from where he stood. "Come on, Damon. We need to leave," she said.

"Elena!" Stefan sounded vaguely alarmed, his voice faint from safety outside the tomb.

Damon scowled darkly at her, knowing by the way she kept her eyes focused on his that she wouldn't leave without him. Elena was certainly perfect for his little brother. They were both kind, almost to a fault. "Let's get out of here," he said bitterly, fighting to keep the disappointment out of his voice. He allowed her to continue holding his hand, and they quickly took the few remaining steps towards the entrance.

He paused there, taking in the sight of Bonnie and her witchy grandmother as they held hands and chanted their mysterious spell. The torches still flickered weakly in a circle around them, but Damon wasn't the least bit impressed.

"Oh my God, Grams. I can't do this!" Bonnie cried, eyes pressed closed. She looked beyond weak, and sweat was clearly beading across her flawless brow.

"We're almost done, baby. Just hold on a bit longer," her grandmother urged her in a shaking voice, not looking all that well herself.

Elena looked up at him, then took her hand from his. She started away from him, towards Stefan. That's when the shaking started.

Damon's head jerked, and he stared at the ceiling above them, startled. It was violently shuddering, small bits of rock crumbling free. It was almost painfully obvious what was going to happen next. In the same instant, Stefan shouted Elena's name, apparently also realizing the truth. He lunged forward, evidently hoping to save her.

Damon reacted instantly, and shoved her forward without bothering to be gentle. She gasped, and landed in a heap on the dirt just outside the entrance of the tomb. She rolled over onto her back and stared in horror, just as there came a thunderously loud rumbling sound.

The last thing Damon heard was Elena screaming his name. Then the tomb collapsed on top of him, and everything became dark and silent.

Please review if you have any spare time. The first chapter should be posted soon. :D