Caught In The Undertow

Vampire Diaries Season 1 "Fool Me Once" AU

Stefan/Elena Bonnie/Damon w/ slight Stefan/Katherine & Damon/Katherine

Summary: Alternate ending to the episode "Fool Me Once". The events of 1864 are slightly different than on the show leading to a complication in the future for Elena, Bonnie, and the Salvatore brothers.

Author's Note: I so shouldn't be starting a new story right now instead of working on my other ones but I can't help it. Hopefully those'll be updated within the next week or two. The idea for this came from watching xeliberg33x's video for Katherine and Elena on youtube for a remixed version of Linkin Park's "Numb". (you can find the vid link on my profile). Then I started thinking about episodes like "Fool Me Once" and "Memory Lane" and "Blood Brothers" and "Children Of The Damned". From there, I got this. Pairings are canon but may change in unexpected ways but it isn't a femslash either. Let me know what you think; compliments/constructive criticisms welcomed.

Prologue: Lost Under The Surface

"Bonnie, keep going!" Sheila told Bonnie who was fading fast from the spell. Sheila – who was also nearly out of breath herself – turned to Elena. "They better hurry."

Elena jumped as she heard a loud yelling. She turned back to the tomb. "Stefan, they can't hold it much longer!" She shouted as loud as she could. With another quick glance at Bonnie and Sheila she let out a deep breath and ran straight into the tomb. The moment she stepped over the doorway and started running she felt a tightness in her chest and a pain in her head behind her eyes. She stopped and doubled over, breathing heavily.

"NO!" She heard more agonizing screams. After a few more breaths she stood straight, her hand on her head. Blinking away painful tears, she continued on in the unfamiliar darkness.

"Stefan!" She shouted again, finding it harder and harder to breathe. She felt as if her entire body was being weighed down on all sides. She saw a flickering light up ahead and turned the corner into a 'room' of sorts. She stopped dead in her tracks, nearly bumping into Stefan. He was frozen staring at Damon on the ground, facing away from her.

Damon cried out and Elena realized it had been him she'd heard screaming. She squinted, trying to see what Damon had on his lap.

Her eyes widened and her jaw dropped. A horrible pain stung in her chest increasing the tightness and she reached out to cling to Stefan's bicep. He jumped at her touch but didn't move.

"No . . ." Damon cried out and Elena could barely see the tears in the harsh light. He clutched the decayed identical-to-Elena corpse close to him as if willing it back to life.

Elena finally found her voice. "We need to get out of here . . ."

Stefan nodded, springing into action. "Damon, we have to go. It's not worth spending eternity down here."

Elena felt the tightness in her chest again as she stared at the corpse.

"Emily promised me . . . she said she'd save her . . ." Damon shouted.

She knew that if she didn't get them out soon they'd be stuck in the tomb forever. The thought hurt almost worse than the tightness. "Please, Damon . . ." She croaked. Damon didn't move. She turned to Stefan, her eyes pleading.

Stefan pulled Damon off his feet but Damon wouldn't let go of the corpse. Elena followed the two out, her chest and head still burning.

She heard Sheila and Bonnie chanting and just as the three exited the tomb the door closed and Bonnie and Sheila stopped.

Once they were out and the chanting stopped, the tightness increased and Elena fell to her knees. She panted, holding her head. "Aahh!" She cried out. She felt Stefan at her side. "My head . . ." She gasped, blinking back tears.

"Wait, is that . . ." Bonnie's voice echoed as Elena's head pounded. "Is that K-Katherine?"

"Please, make it stop . . ." Elena moaned, in too much pain to acknowledge her friend.

"What's wrong with her?" Stefan's voice echoed in waves too. Elena felt him pull her in his arms. The comfort she usually felt in his embrace did nothing to ease the pain. She vaguely heard Sheila chanting.

"I can't tell . . ." Sheila's voice was louder though Elena didn't think it was because the older witch was talking louder. "My magic isn't powerful enough. Even so . . . whatever this is doesn't want to be messed with."

"Wait, where's Damon?" Bonnie said and Elena could barely make it out.

"We need to get Elena out of here," Stefan's words reached Elena's ears in only disjointed sounds. Not that it much mattered . . . she had other things on her mind.

"Gah . . ." Elena panted. It was becoming harder and harder to breathe. She closed her eyes, feeling the tears run down her face. The tightness increased painfully in her chest even more, her head throbbed, and an overwhelming presence enveloped her. She struggled to breathe. Her hands clutched at her heart as she gasped for breath. All she could hear was the in-sync pounding of her head and her heart. She couldn't even feel Stefan's arms around her anymore. She couldn't even feel her own body.

Everything . . . all her senses . . were disappearing. Her head wasn't pounding and the tightness in her chest disappeared – because she didn't have a body. There was nothing and she was nothing . . . but she was still aware. Time had no meaning. It felt, though, as if she were attached to the middle of a tug-of-war rope and pulled from one side to the other . . .

"Elena, what are you doing . . ."

Wait, where was that echoing voice coming from? She could hear it . . . but who was talking? Stefan? What was going on?

"Elena, stop it!" Was that Bonnie shouting?

"Elena!" She heard Stefan yell. There was a horrible ringing noise that invaded her entire being . . .

Out of nowhere she could feel her body again. No more pounding or tightness. Her throat though was raw, sore . . . it sounded like someone was screaming. Her blood was boiling, her skin was on fire . . . sweat dripped from her brow. Her esophagus burned . . .

Everything echoed and her throat started to hurt worse. Then it felt as if someone was shaking her.

She opened her eyes. Stefan's face moved animatedly back and forth in front of her, his lips moving but she couldn't hear what he was saying. Someone was still screaming, the noise pounded her ears.

"Elena . . ." Stefan's voice appeared, echoing. "Elena, stop!"

All of Elena's senses instantly returned and she realized it was her screaming. She stopped but she could still hear the echo of it in her ears. Stefan held each of her wrists and her legs were kicking in every direction. She looked around and found that she was outside in the woods on the ground, the remains of an old building around them.

"Elena, calm down!" Stefan held her, trying to stop her.

Elena stilled suddenly and stared in Stefan's eyes. He looked so worried. She panted, trying to catch her breath. She could now feel Stefan's tight hold on her arms . . . it was starting to hurt.

As if he could read her mind, he dropped her arms immediately. She fell on his chest now that he wasn't holding her. She took deep breaths, feeling Stefan's strong chest beneath her. He wrapped his arms protectively around her and this time she did feel safe, unlike before.

"Stefan, I . . ."

Stefan shook his head, whispering in her ear. "Ssh . . . it's okay. You're okay."

Her throat was killing her. Why had she been screaming? How did she get to the woods?

Crickets chirped in the distance as the full moon shone above them. Elena could feel her heart beat furiously in her chest. "What happened?" She whispered, her voice hoarse.

"What do you remember?" Stefan asked her. She lifted her head, panting, so she could see his face.

"Um . . ." Elena let out a deep breath. "W-We were at the tomb . . ."

Stefan sighed, "Do you remember how you got here?" Elena shook her head. "Your head was hurting and I could tell by your heartbeat that you were having a hard time breathing. You were hitting me, pushing me away, yelling at all of us, screaming in another language. Then you just took off. I followed you here."

"I don't remember any of that," Elena's voice shook. How could she not remember all that?

"When you got here you just started screaming and shouting and beating the ground." Stefan said. "It's just really weird because . . ."

"What?" Elena said.

"Um . . . this is probably one of the last places Katherine was alive . . ."

Elena gulped, "What does that mean?"

"I'm not sure but . . . while you were screaming you were yelling at someone . . . or so it seemed. I didn't catch a name."

TVDTVDTVDTVDTVDTVD

(POV shift)

Stefan noticed while they were talking that Elena was staring intently at his lips, a strange expression on her face. He raised an eyebrow. "What's wrong? Do I have something on my face?" At the sound of his voice, Elena blinked. And . . . she licked her own lips.

"Huh?" Elena blinked again. "Oh . . . nothing." Even in the dark he could see her blush and . . . wait, was he smelling what he thought he was smelling? He sniffed again . . . yep, he was right. His jeans tightened considerably.

"Elena, what was that?" He asked.

She blushed again. "N-Nothing." He could tell she was actively trying not to blush.

He just stared at her, confused. "No secrets, remember? Whatever it is you don't have to be embarrassed. I love you and . . . you can tell me anything."

She let out a deep breath and looking up – still blushing. "It's nothing. It's crazy. I just . . ." She chuckled. "I looked at your lips and I remembered something I have no way or reason to remember . . ."

"What is it?" He asked, intrigued.

She cleared his throat. "Um . . . I don't know why but I thought this exact phrase: 'I wish I could have his blood on my lips again . . . I remember the first time I tasted him while we made love in the dark of his bedroom . . .'" Elena blushed again. "It's crazy, right?"

Stefan cleared his own throat, confused. He really hadn't been expecting that. "Um . . ." Elena blushed deeper. "D-Did you maybe, um . . . dream about it?" This whole conversation was making him wish he had loose sweats on instead of jeans. He knew he'd dreamt about it – Elena and him sharing blood – but he'd never voice it unless he knew she would be comfortable with it.

Elena shook her head. "No. Never. Not that I remember anyway . . ."

Stefan believed that. Even though she'd accepted him and his being a vampire he knew she wasn't quite comfortable with it yet. But . . . where had the thought come from?

"Um . . . I'm sorry . . .that was really awkward . . " Elena's face scrunched and she blushed again.

"No, no . . .it's, um . . okay . . ." Stefan started. A phone rang. Elena pulled her cell phone out of her pocket. Stefan could hear both sides of the conversation.

"Hello?" Elena said.

"Elena, oh my god . . Bonnie's grandma . . . she's dead, Elena!" Caroline was sobbing.

"Caroline, slow down," Elena's heart was pounding. "What's going on?"

"They're saying it was a heart attack or something and Bonnie's dad is out of town and I can't get a hold of him and Bonnie's, like, in shock or something . . ." Caroline rushed.

"Ok, calm down. I'll be there as soon as I can, okay?" Elena said. "Just breathe and keep trying to her dad or even her mom or anybody."

"I-I will," Caroline sniffled.

Elena turned off her phone, sniffling as well. She looked up and Stefan's heart constricted seeing the tears run down her face. He pulled her in his arms and stood, using his vampire speed to get them to the hospital quickly.

He still couldn't get the events of the last few hours out of his mind. Everything had changed so drastically . . . including his girlfriend. What did it mean? She was so unlike herself.

As he set her down outside the hospital, he couldn't help but notice how she clung to him. Only one person had ever held on to him that way . . .

To Be Continued . . .

A.N. . . . and cue the creepy end of episode music . . . Uh-oh . . .what's happening to Elena? What will happen now that Katherine is dead? What will Damon do?