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~ X ~

~ Two Years Ago ~

"How many more ways can you rip out my heart?" a despairing Stefan asked, outstretched arms expressing his exasperation and pain.

Elena's lips parted, but she hesitated, searching her feelings. "I love him, Stefan. I can't help how I feel. I know that at one time I felt something for you, but I can barely remember it."

Her calm gaze and softly apologetic tone undid him. You don't apologize for breaking someone's heart in the same voice you'd use to apologize for stepping on their toe. All his pain, all his grief, everything they had been to each other meant nothing to her. He dug his fingertips into the sides of his head, squeezing hard, trying to hold back a tide of black rage that threatened to split his skull.

She reached out a calming hand only to have him jump back out of her reach. His eyes berated her. "I mean nothing to you," he accused.

"No, you're important to Damon, and we're frie—"

He was gone before she finished the words. Downstairs, he roughly slammed past his brother almost knocking him over.

Damon rushed after him, but stopped on the edge of the lawn as e realized the futility of chasing his brother.

"Stefan!" he called after him.

Damon, hands on his hips, shook his head, knowing his brother was too upset to talk to right now. Once Stefan cooled down it would be time to have that long overdue heart-to-heart talk. Time to mend fences and fix this situation. They needed to present a united front to deal with this new menace in Mystic Falls. If he had only known it was the last he would see or hear from his brother for two years, he would have tried harder to stop him.