Ok hopefully got something here guys.

The New Battle Chapter 1

"Where is he? Damon?! Where is he?" Elena panicked as Damon tried to hold her back and calm her.

"Elena, he's ok alright? I got him. Just chill." He said and she looked into his eyes and tried to calm down. "I got him." He said again in reassurance.

"Where is he?" She asked a little calmer and he indicated upstairs towards Stefan's bedroom.

"He's freaked out ok? He needs some alone time."

"He's been trapped and alone for a whole year Damon! A whole year!" She pointed out and he rolled his eyes at the stupid comment he'd made and held her shoulders.

"I know. He's just a little disorientated and if you charge in there, you'll just get him all fired up again. You've got to chill." He explained and she nodded and began to breathe.

"Is he ok?" She asked full of emotion.

"He just spent the last twelve months drowning over and over again in a locked safe Elena. He's…he's not the Stefan you know right now."

"What do you mean?"

"I don't want you to worry about this ok? He just needs time to get his brain going again."

"Damon what are you talking about? You're scaring me."

Damon sighed and led her towards the sofa, sitting down and turning towards her. He looked worried, which just made her more worried.

"What?" She asked nervously.

"He's a little confused. He didn't know who I was." He explained and held her hand tight as she processed it.

"What?" She frowned.

"A little amnesia, but don't worry. I'm sure it'll come back to him, we just have to give him some time and space." He comforted but she could tell from the tone of his voice that he was more than a little concerned.

"He doesn't remember us? Anything?" She gasped and he nodded. "How? Why would that happen?"

"Maybe Silas did it before he pushed him into the lake? I don't know. It could be from the trauma."

"He must be so scared." She put her hand over her mouth as tears filled her eyes. "Damon we have to help him."

"We will." He said resolutely and pulled her into his shoulder in an embrace as she sobbed.

Upstairs Stefan listened to the conversation and curled into himself in the huge bed that Damon had led him too. The girl downstairs obviously knew him, cared for him but he had no idea who she was. He closed his eyes as panic filled him. Who were these people? Who was Damon? This could all be a trick. Damon could be the one who put him in the safe in the first place. He just didn't know. All he could remember was the darkness, the cold water, the urgency and fear of drowning over and over again as he screamed and pounded on the black lid of the safe.

He clenched his jaw and trembled, scared to close his eyes in case he opened them and was in water again. He allowed the tears he'd been holding back to spill down his face. They were hot and stung his eyes as he stared at the door to the bedroom. What was going to happen to him? He thought back on when Damon had found him.

He'd thought he was hallucinating at first when he felt the safe being pulled and moved from the water…

The water inside had begun to drain gradually and he gasped for breath, finally able to breathe for the first time since he could remember. The oxygen provided comfort for only a few seconds however as he realised that something was happening, something new. He began to panic as he realised this safe had been his world, all he could remember and he had no idea what was waiting for him outside of it. Could it be the person who'd put him in here? He struggled to remember the face that had loomed, haunted his hallucinations for months. His face had been familiar but always in shadow so he couldn't be sure if he'd recognise it. Pale eyes, white skin, male – that was all he could remember.

The safe finally landed on solid ground and Stefan began to hyperventilate in fear. The unmistakeable sounds of the safe being opened beginning. He had to be ready. He had to be ready to attack! He flexed his muscles, now barely existing because of lack of blood or movement. He gritted his teeth and felt shear adrenaline fill him. The lid opened slowly, creakily and a man's' face hovered above him. Pale wide eyes looking down, impossibly white skin…

He panicked and threw himself at the figure with every bit of energy he had. The figure shouted in surprise and fell backwards onto the ground as he climbed out of the safe onto grass. He couldn't stop to appreciate it though as his captor rose to his feet and called to him.

"Stefan…"

Was that his name? The figure put his hands up in surrender and Stefan growled and looked around for an escape.

"Stefan it's me. It's me ok?" The figure said, sounding like he was trying to soothe a child and Stefan compelled himself forward and felt sharp teeth fill his mouth.

He paused in surprise and touched them as the figure kept talking to him in the same tone, soothing, lulling, while fear radiated throughout Stefan's body. What was happening to him? He tried to run, but his legs wouldn't carry him. He fell to the ground in terror as the figure approached him.

He screamed and the figure paused and looked at him concerned.

Was this the person who'd imprisoned him? His face tingled under his eyes and he touched it and let out a roar of desperation and confusion and the figure pulled something from his pocket and tossed it in his direction. He looked down at it. It was a blood bag. A blood bag? He looked up at the figure again and the figure backed away a few steps and sat down, still holding his hands up. Stefan panted and stared at him, desperate to believe that this person wasn't going to hurt him. He looked to the blood bag and his face tingled again.

"It's ok, drink up Stefan. Everything's going to be ok." The figure said again and Stefan reached out and grabbed the bag.

He squeezed it in his hands in confusion and looked at the figure again.

"Drink it."

Stefan blinked and was about to scoff when he smelled the scent of it. It smelled amazing. He immediately bit into it and drank forcefully, gasping and gulping it down at such a speed that he had to close his eyes to concentrate and took his eyes off of the figure watching him. Still, the figure remained where he was as Stefan finished the bag and panted. He needed more, so much more. Having this small amount was only making him take of how the rest of his body was burning with the thirst for it. He hadn't noticed how much pain he was in until he'd been given a little of something he evidently needed. His eyes filled with tears that burned hot in his eyes, but weren't plentiful enough that they could descend to his skin. The figure moved and Stefan's eyes moved over to him again warily.

"Stefan, Silas is dead. He's gone. Everything is going to be ok brother."

Brother? Stefan squinted at him in surprise at the use of that word. This person was his brother? He didn't remember having one. In fact he remembered nothing at all but the cold and the darkness. Even words were hard for him to formulate in his mind. He hadn't spoken to another person in his entire memory.

"Stefan you're freaking me out here. Say something." The figure indeed looked nervous and Stefan seemed to calm at that.

This person really didn't seem to want to harm him. He felt overcome with relief and tiredness as he realised that. He didn't need to keep his guard up. The figure stood up slowly and so did he.

"Stefan, do you understand me?" The figure squinted at him, finally started to realise that they had more problems that simple misunderstandings of intent at work here. "Stefan!" He said a little more vexed and worried and Stefan opened his mouth to speak but moved backwards when Damon approached him.

"Jesus Christ!" The figure ran his hands through his hair and stared at him in fear now. "I'm going to fix this brother I promise you. Come on, let's get you home."

The figure moved to touch him and he screamed and threw himself at him in fear. Struggling as the figure cursed and tried to grab him in a way that would incapacitate him but not hurt him. Stefan growled and fought tooth and nail until he had no energy left at all and the figure managed to put him in the trunk of his car. He screamed wildly and beat on the boot lid as soon as Damon closed it, panicking at the enclosed space and hyperventilating with such force he let out such a scream of terror that the figure came back panicking and tried to calm him.

"Stefan for god's sake! I don't know what to…" The figure said, almost crying himself as he realised how stupid a place this was to place him, despite the fact that it was the only way to get him safely out of here and back to the boarding house without him struggling.

Stefan fought to get out of the boot, his face streaming with tears of terror and biting at Damon, making his arms and face bleed as he caught him and scratched, bit, pulled…whatever he could to get out until finally Damon had to grab his head and break his neck. Damon panted and collapsed to the ground as he sobbed silently and Stefan lay silent. He pulled his phone out of his pocket shakily and went to call Elena when he paused. Things weren't good between them lately. Not since they had discovered that Stefan hadn't simply gone away on travels. Silas had come and taunted them, pointing out Stefan's predicament and it had crushed her. The guilt over how they hadn't realised something was very wrong with Stefan and had happily played house for almost a year, had ruined the little happiness they had. She hadn't been able to deal with it. She'd blamed him. Everyone blamed him…as usual. Somehow he was always the big bad even though he'd gone out of his mind too when he realised how much suffering Stefan must be enduring.

They had separated and now all their relationship seemed to be was an alliance to try and find Stefan. He'd been so glad when she and Caroline had gone off to college and gave him some space to figure things out. He could finally breathe and now that Silas was finally dead – with the help of Tessa, Damon could focus all of his attentions on finding Stefan and he had.

But he hadn't expected this.

He had been prepared for Stefan being dead, for him being no more than a fluid enlarged corpse, or so angry he would never speak to him, or try to kill him, or…There were just so many possibilities and he'd thought of them all.

But this…Stefan didn't seem to know who he was and that was beyond terrifying!

He climbed back into the Camaro and sped back to the Boarding house. He'd call Elena later, once he knew the full extent of what was happening. He pulled into the drive and got out, approaching the trunk slowly. Stefan still lay dead and unresponsive so he breathed in relief and lifted him into his arms carefully, bringing him up to his room. He lay him down on his bed and finally took in the state of his body. His muscles were almost nonexistent and his skin had a slight sludge look about it as the skin cells had never been able to revitalise properly from no contact with oxygen. He looked like a monstrous bag of putrid flesh and he smelled as much. Only his eyes told of the fact that it was Stefan. He couldn't let anyone see him like this. He removed the scraps of clothing still intact and they fell away into pieces under his hands. He felt like vomiting at that and quickly disposed of them. He ran a quick bath in Stefan's bedroom and hoped he could do this before Stefan awoke and started screaming again.

He hadn't had to wash Stefan, care for him like this since they had been human and Damon had bathed Stefan as a child. He felt nervous and odd about it. Would Stefan feel violated or embarrassed at him having to do this? Probably, but he couldn't have Stefan see himself looking like this. He crossed over to the bed and lifted his body, trying not to cringe too much at the texture of Stefan's skin against his own. As soon as he was clean, he would feed him as much blood as he could take to get his body returning to health and a normal appearance. Pieces of Stefan's skin were coming away and it was gross as Damon tried to wash him carefully. It was horrible and wasn't helping. He stopped, fretting and decided that the only way to get this done properly was to get some blood into him first. He blurred to his room and pulled some blood bags from the fridge. He didn't have time to wait for animal blood to work, human blood was necessary right now and he could argue with him later about that.

He opened Stefan's mouth and poured some inside. Stefan's body responded thankfully, his veins protruding in desperate need and Damon continued until the skin started to respond and reform. One blood bag changed his body enough to allow Damon to continue with his bath so he left the others at his feet as he focussed on cleansing the new skin. Stefan was still out thankfully. He grabbed a large towel and enfolded Stefan in it, carrying him out of the bathtub and to his bed laying him down. He searched around the drawers and found some underwear for him.

He didn't have time to consider how intimate this all was, as Stefan moved a little and he knew he was running out of time. He slid his underwear up his legs and over his sex and dried the rest of his body off gently as Stefan opened his eyes. Damon paused and looked down at him and Stefan gasped terrified and tried to move.

"Stefan, it's me brother. You're safe, you're safe." Damon cooed gently and the tone made Stefan cease an attack and stare up at him. "We're home."

Stefan's breathing was still way too fast but he seemed to take note of his new attire and looked around wildly. Damon stepped back and retrieved the blood bags from the bathroom. Stefan sat up and touched his body, feeling the warmth of the bathwater and the scent of the soap fill his lungs and he exhaled and touched his skin tentatively. His skin looked different. It wasn't slippery anymore. Then he noticed the warmth and comfort brought by the underwear he had on and he touched it too. It felt so strange, so different from his other clothes. He realised quickly this was because he was dry, for the first time in his memory. He looked up, tears spilling to see his saviour approach him, because that is what this figure was – his savour, his angel. He opened his mouth and let a sound of emotion escape him and the figure frowned in concern and slowly handed him another blood bag. Stefan accepted it and bit into it, drinking deeply and enthusiastically.

The figure sat down and watched him and Stefan closed his eyes, feeling safe for the moment. This figure wouldn't hurt him, he felt sure of that now. He finished the blood bag and lay back as he sighed. His body was changing, healing and he felt a strange buzzing in his head of elation. He closed his eyes, before opening them again really quickly and realising that he didn't know where he was. He sat back up and looked around. His angel stayed quiet, simply observing as he chewed his thumb nail. The room he was in was vaguely familiar. It clearly belonged to someone who lived here, it was lived in. Books adorned every corner, a desk with an antique lamp was pride of place by the window and there were clothes draped everywhere. He looked to his angel again and he smiled at him.

"This is your room." The angel said.

His room? He had a room?

"It'll come back to you brother. It's going to be ok." The angel reassured and all Stefan wanted to do in that moment was to believe him.

He moved from the bed, smiling at the feeling of dry wood beneath his feet and he moved over to the angel. The angel leaned back a little wary but allowed Stefan to approach.

"What is your name?" Stefan managed to ask, words feeling like such a strange thing to use after having been inside of his own head for as long as he could remember.

"Damon. I'm your brother Damon Salvatore. You are Stefan Salvatore." The angel said and Stefan sat down on his knees and searched for something familiar in any of those names.

The name Damon did seem familiar. He closed his eyes trying to figure out why but he was certain that name was important.

"Damon." He mulled over the sound of the name and his angel seemed to frown in grief.

He looked up at him in surprise and Damon gave a rather unconvincing smile, handing him another blood bag. Stefan took it from his hands and held them warmly for a few seconds before removing the bag. The Damon angel blinked in surprise and then gave a small smile. He'd drank another few of the blessed bags before Damon had urged him into the huge bed before him and tucked him in.

"Sleep brother. I'll figure out how to fix this." Damon had vowed and Stefan had grabbed at his arm as he made to move.

"Don't leave." He'd been so urgent in his begging.

He'd been alone always and he was terrified if Damon left him and he closed his eyes, he'd be back in that safe again. Damon seemed confused and surprised but he had sat next to him in an armchair. Stefan had turned on his side so he could look at him, study his face to try and incur some kind of memory. The face did seem familiar. Damon seemed uncomfortable under the scrutiny and had lifted a book to read as Stefan gradually closed his eyes and fell asleep peaceful and protected by his angel Damon.

He had awoken to the cries of the girl downstairs and had curled into himself realising that Damon was not beside him anymore. Without his comforting presence, it had been easy for him to slip back into the fear that he didn't know if he could trust him. This angel had shown nothing but concern but it didn't mean he was safe here. He pulled the comfortable blankets aside and rose from the bed, looking around for his clothing. He couldn't see it anywhere. There were a lot of other clothes scattered around though so he moved to collect some of them when he froze. His eyes widened as he looked at the figure staring back at him. That face…those eyes….he knew them.

That was the one who had put him in the safe!