Crumbling Hearts and Shattered Minds

Chapter 6: One Huge Guilt Trip

Authors note: wow. Chapter six already? Few I'm really enjoying writing this. Anyway here's a chapter from Stefan's point of view. So we get to see how much Stefan really cares for his brother and how scared he is to see Damon like this. Hope you enjoy :)

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Stefan POV

I knew that everything Alaric was saying was true. I just couldn't admit it to myself. I couldn't admit to any of it. I didn't want to see my big brother lose his mind. I may not always acknowledge it, but I relied on Damon to always be there. To be the hero at the end of the day, like he was back in 1864. Like how whenever I got blamed for something and father got upset, Damon would step in and defend me, but it came at the price of having to watch my brother get beaten to a pulp. I didn't want this to ever happen. He deserved more than this and I knew it. I just wasn't brave enough to voice all this to Damon. And the thought that I might not get the chance, scared the hell out of me.

"What do you think we should do?" I asked, wanting to do everything in my power to help Damon.

Alaric gave me a odd look, as if he didn't think I would be so fast to help. Well, that didn't do anything to help my current guilt trip.

"Well, we can't physically fight off whatever is happening to Damon. Maybe Bonnie can do some research and we'll be here to support Damon and keep him as safe as we can." Everyone nods "Can you start on research?" Alaric asked, turning to bonnie with new hope gleaming in his eyes.

"Yes. I can go see what I can find. There may be spells one how to cure the insane-"

"he's not insane." I snapped at once. " just go find something. Anything. Now." I said with a no bull expression. And I didn't have anytime to feel sorry about it. It was something to deal with at a later date. Seeing that I meant it, Bonnie gave a quick nod before heading out the door, towards her car.

"We should check on Damon." Alaric suggested. That's when a crash came from upstairs. "What the hell was that?" Rick asked before moving towards the stairs. I quickly moved in front of him.

"Don't. Damon is in bad shape right now. If he thinks you're someone else, he won't hesitate to kill you. I'll go." I said as I turned and walked quietly so I didn't alarm Damon.

I was on the second flight when he came tumbling down the staircase in front of me. Without hesitation, I tried pulling him to his feet, only to find that he was unconscious.

I heard gasps from behind me. That's when I felt something warm running down the arm that was supporting my brother. I smelt it before I saw it. I looked down to find blood gushing from a deep slit on Damon's left wrist.

"Shit Damon. What did you do?" I asked and only received incoherent mumbles. "Elena, grab some wash cloths from the bathroom down here. Tyler, grab at least three bags of blood from the cooler. Caroline spread a big towel on the couch. NOW!" I had no patience for anyone lagging while my brother was limp in my arms.

"Stefan, what can I do?" Jeremy asked hastily.

"Grab the first aid kit from the kitchen." I said as I carefully brought Damon to the couch that Caroline had spread a few towels over. It wasn't necessary, but I knew Damon would be pissed if I let him bleed on the couch. Elena came rushing into the room. Without a word, I took the wash cloths from her and placed one the deep gash and held pressure to it. I knew Damon wouldn't heal until he had the blood. "TYLER! HURRY UP!" I shouted, which caused Elena to jump. But I was a little too preoccupied to care.

Jeremy came back right before Tyler came running in. Jeremy passed me some gauze and tape. That would have to be enough for now.

"What's that for? Shouldn't he just heal?" Elena asked worriedly.

"Even when he does get blood in his system, it will by a little while before he gets back to full strength." I stated while wrapping the gauze around his wrist and biting off piece after piece of tape.

Once I was sure it was secure, but not too tight, I turned for the blood. Tyler held it out sheepishly.

"What the hell took you so long?" I snapped at him before snatching the blood bag away from him.

"Stefan, calm down. He probably had a hard time around it." Elena tried to soothe out the tension in my shoulders.

But I wasn't having any of it.

I dodged out of her grip and faced the room of people. Except Rick. He had moved to sit next to Damon's legs and was now feeding him the first bag of blood and watching me cautiously.

"No. Elena. Don't tell me to calm down. Would you calm down if it was Jeremy?" I asked

"Stefan, I just meant-" I cut her off.

"I don't care what you meant. Do you realize what's at stake here? Damon is losing it. And I have to keep him from falling apart. And if any of you try fighting against me about it, complaining that 'he's just Damon' or 'what has he ever done for us?' Well. 1 he's done a lot for all of you and most of you wouldn't be alive if it wasn't for him and 2 if any of you don't want to help or are too slow, I'll take Damon and we'll leave Mystic Falls and find someone who will help. And we won't return till he's better. I can't do this with all of you against me. So either do it for Damon, or just leave." I finished while pointing towards the door.

They all gaped at me, but no one made a move towards the door.

"Good." I said before turning back to Damon.

I glanced at Rick and saw him give me an approving smile. I turned back to Damon. He had already gotten two of the four blood bags down.

"Stfn?" I looked down to see that Damon now had his eyes partly open and was staring at me like I wasn't real. He probably thought I wasn't.

"Yeah Damon, it's me. The real me. Not whoever you keep seeing." I stated with a hint of a smile, till I realized that it wasn't a good time to smile. But to my relief (I think) Damon smiled back.

"So you figured it out huh?" He asked meekly.

"Alaric did. He came to us after, yelling at us to help. Why didn't you tell us?" I asked softly. I started undoing the bandages to see if his wrist had stopped bleeding. To my definite relief, it had.

Damon sat up and rubbed the back of his neck. After a moment he just sighed.

"It started off as nightmares. Bad ones. It got to the point where I wanted to flinch and duck for cover each time I was reminded of it. Then I started seeing things. I started seeing people I failed or killed. Then they started taunting me. And the pain," he held up his wrist, which still had a light pinkish line running across it. "The pain brought me back to what is real. That's why I shattered my mirror and slashed my wrist open. So far, it's worked. Though I expect he'll be coming back soon..." Damon trailed off.

Everyone in the room was standing awkwardly behind where I had taken a seat on the table that was right next to Damon. No one spoke up, so I asked what they all were thinking about.

"Who's 'he'?"

Damon looked scared. But not of me. He finally met my gaze and said one word that brought a flood of horrible, haunting memories rushing back.

"Dad."