1864

1864 Chapter 10

Emily does her best to help wrestle me into the dress and after a long time of sucking it in and not breathing, I am crammed in.

"You know you're stuck here Miss Elena," she says to me.

"That's the plan Emily. We didn't do all that hard work so I can bust out of it. I also told you already, you can call me Elena. You aren't my handmaiden, you are your own person. I just needed help in the dress-"

"No Elena. I know you aren't from this time. I am telling you, you can't go back. There won't be another comet until-"

"Until the one I used to jump back here. I know. Why are his memories of us from before now coming back. Do you know?"

"Yes. You and Damon are soulmates. While he may not know you, his soul does. His soul remembers you. Because of that, things that remind his soul, they are remembered up here," she points to her forehead, "the memory to bring back them all, will be the one where he falls for you Elena."

"You're saying, if I can trigger a memory that is the specific moment where he fell for me, that will be the one to bring them all back and I will have my Damon back?"

"Yes. But even still, you both are stuck here. And everything you do now, will change everything in the future. If Damon and Stefan don't become vampires, all the lives they saved will be lost."

"But all the ones they took will be saved."

"That is also correct. It's all about choices Elena. Your brother will be a single child. Your friends will grow up not knowing you. There won't be any vampires in Mystic Falls."

"Maybe it's better that all of my family lives without me. If it weren't for me, my parents wouldn't have died. Jer wouldn't be an orphan. Bonnie wouldn't have died. Caroline would never have become a vampire. Tyler wouldn't have triggered his curse. Maybe it is better this way."

"Maybe, but there's no going back now," she says pushing a curl to frame my face. I'm looking at myself in the mirror and I look like a princess. I feel like a princess.

"What if Damon remembers everything and he wants to turn?" I ask her.

"What if because he remembers, and he chooses not to?"

I pick up my dress as I walk down the stairs. Damon got caught up in helping his father with some things so I told him I would just meet him there. I get there and Meg is wearing the red dress we picked out for her and she looks absolutely stunning.

"Elena! You're here! Wow you look beautiful."

"Not as beautiful as you Meg."

"I was thinking, we should go in to town sometime next week. See if we can find anything new."

"It is a date," I'm smiling.

"So Elena, who is your escort tonight," she asks me wiggling her eyebrows.

"Damon Salvatore," I blushed faintly.

"Ooh, is he courting you?"

"I am not sure, he hasn't asked me. Though, I wouldn't be opposed. He took me and my cousin Katherine in because our family burned in the Georgia fires."

"I'm sorry Elena, I didn't mean to pry. It must be so hard. Soon enough the war will be over and it will be nothing but a distant memory."

Damon enters and he looks so handsome. He's smiling and laughing while chatting with the Lockwoods. His eyes meet mine and he gives me the slightest smirk before Meg pulls me up the stairs to get ready for the founder's dance. My name is called and Damon is waiting for me at the end of the stairs, looking at me as he holds his breath just as he did the first time. He purses his lips as his hand touches the small of my back. His icy blue eyes lock with mine as we dance in circles. My heart is pounding. I feel like I am falling in love with him all over again. All these little things we do remind me and it almost is cathartic. He closes his eyes and his grip on me is tighter.