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His harsh sobs went on and on, as she held him to the full skirts of the blue gown, stroking his
quivering shoulders. She murmured nonsense meant to soothe him, pushing away her own horror.
And, presently, he quieted and lifted his head. He spoke thickly, but he seemed to have returned to the
present, to have come back.
"The parchment was a note, for me and for Damon. It said she had been selfish, wanting to have
both of us. It said – she couldn't bear to be the cause of strife between us. She hoped that once she
was gone we would no longer hate each other. She did it to bring us together."
"Oh, Stefan," whispered Elena. She felt burning tears fill her own eyes in sympathy. "Oh, Stefan, I'm
so sorry. But don't you see, after all this time, that what Katherine did was wrong? It was selfish,
even, and it was her choice. In a way, it had nothing to do with you, or with Damon."
Stefan shook his head as if to shake off the truth of the words. "She gave her life… for that. We
killed her." He was sitting up now. But his eyes were still dilated, great disks of black, and he had the
look of a small bewildered boy.
"Damon came up behind me. He took the note and read it. And then – I think he went mad. We were
both mad. I had picked up Katherine's ring, and he tried to take it. He shouldn't have. We struggled.
We said terrible things to each other. We each blamed the other for what had happened. I don't
remember how we got back to the house, but suddenly I had my sword. We were fighting. I wanted to
destroy that arrogant face forever, to kill him. I remember my father shouting from the house. We
fought harder, to finish it before he reached us.
"And we were well matched. But Damon had always been stronger, and that day he seemed faster,
too, as if he had changed more than I had. And so while my father was still shouting from the window
I felt Damon's blade get past my guard. Then I felt it enter my heart."
Elena stared, aghast, but he went on without pause. "I felt the pain of the steel, I felt it stab through
me, deep, deep inside. All the way through, a hard thrust. And then the strength poured out of me and I
fell. I lay there on the paved ground."
He looked up at Elena and finished simply, "And that is how… I died."
Elena sat frozen, as if the ice she'd felt in her chest earlier tonight had flooded out and trapped her.
"Damon came and stood over me and bent down. I could hear my father's cries from far away, and
screams from the household, but all I could see was Damon's face. Those black eyes that were like a
moonless night. I wanted to hurt him for what he had done to me. For everything he had done to me,
and to Katherine." Stefan was quiet a moment, and then he said, almost dreamily, "And so I lifted my
sword and I killed him. With the last of my strength, I stabbed my brother through the heart."
The storm had moved on, and through the broken window Elena could hear soft night noises, the
chirp of crickets, the wind sifting through trees. In Stefan's room, it was very still.
"I knew nothing more until I woke up in my tomb," said Stefan. He leaned back, away from her, and
shut his eyes. His face was pinched and weary, but that awful childlike dreaminess was gone.
"Both Damon and I had had just enough of Katherine's blood to keep us from truly dying. Instead we
changed. We woke together in our tomb, dressed in our best clothing, laid on slabs side by side. We
were too weak to hurt each other anymore; the blood had been just barely enough. And we were
confused. I called to Damon, but he ran outside into the night.
"Fortunately, we had been buried with the rings Katherine had given us. And I found her ring in my