Chapter Text
Damon let out a heavy breath as his head fell back against the wall. Of course he fucking lost. “Okay. Rations are yours for the next year. I’m counting on you to get us both out.”
“I won’t let you down, mate,” Enzo promised. If Damon lived up to his end of the bargain, then so would he. Come hell or high water.
The next year was even more hell than usual for Damon and more than once he almost didn’t give up his rations. Enzo’s promises of what they would do on the outside were the only thing that gave him the strength. If he didn’t do this, then he would never see the outside. So he limited himself to the sip it would take to keep from desiccating and painfully handed over the rest to Enzo. He was glad there was a stone wall between them so Enzo didn’t have to see his tears as he did. Seeing the shakes in his hands as he pushed the little cup of blood through was bad enough.
It seemed like far more than the year it was, and many days, the calendar he kept scratched on the wall was his only confirmation of the time, but finally the party rolled around. Damon closed his eyes and prayed that this would work as they pulled Enzo out. He watched Enzo break the chains and drain the doctor and two more people as the panic broke out. He saw him snap a few necks too and Damon was grateful that he would have some food once he was out. Then things started going wrong. A candle got knocked over and the fire started. “Enzo! Hurry!” Damon tried to snap him out of his bloodlust.
Enzo dragged himself away from the fourth person he was draining to notice the fire spreading and he rushed back to the doctor to find the key. But it wasn’t there. Had he slipped it to someone else? Enzo used vampire speed to check all the bodies that were still there, but still no key. It must be with someone who made it out. And there was no telling who that someone was. “The key isn’t here!” Enzo said frantically before rushing over and trying to brute strength the bars open, ignoring the burning of his hands in the process.
Damon took a deep steadying breath, watching the fire continue to spread. There was only one way this could go no. “Enzo stop,” Damon shoved his hands away from the bars. There was no use. They would never break. “Listen carefully. Third floor of the Lockwood Mansion in Mystic Falls on the right hallway, there’s a hidden compartment. The amulet there will open the tomb. September two thousand nine. Get Katherine.”
“No. No, I’m not leaving you, mate. We both get out of here or neither of us do,” Enzo said, getting back to trying the bars.
“Damnit, Enzo! Stop it!” Damon shoved his hands off again. “You /have/ to. If you don’t…then no one knows about the tomb. No one knows how to open it. Katherine will be there forever living in a fate worse than death,” Damon said insistently. “What would you do if that were Maggie?”
Enzo closed his eyes against the wash of pain. “Damon…I can’t…”
“Please, Enzo. Save her for me. Tell her I loved her until the end. Please, brother,” Damon begged.
Enzo swallowed heavily and nodded, reaching a hand through the bars to clasp Damon’s forearm. “It was a pleasure knowing you, brother.”
“You too, brother,” Damon said, blinking the tears from his eyes. “And if you could…look in on Stefan every now and then? Make sure he’s doing okay? And my other family in Mystic Falls?”
“I will,” Enzo vowed solemnly.
“Now go. Hurry,” Damon gave him a little push and watched as Enzo jumped out the window with one last anguished look back at Damon. Once he was gone, Damon let out a heavy breath as the fire got closer and closed his eyes waiting for the end. He didn’t hear the footsteps over the crackling of the flames. He didn’t see the vervain dart heading for him, even if the smoke wouldn’t have obscured it. He was weak enough from starvation that he was out almost before he felt it. His last thought was that at least he would be unconscious as he burned. Unfortunately, he wasn’t so lucky and woke up back in his same old cell.
It didn’t take him long to realize that Enzo thought he was dead. Otherwise, he would have come for him. And since he was the one who begged Enzo to go, he couldn’t even blame him for that either. He continued his calendar, planning to at least make the attempt at the next party, but when he learned that there would be no more parties for security’s sake, he stopped bothering. There was no more hope. There was no more company. Just endless pain and misery. And he sunk deeper and deeper into apathy. He didn’t want to see how long he’d been here anymore. He just let the days run together. He stopped talking to the guards or the doctors. The only sounds he made were the screams that tore from his throat during the worst of the experiments. There was no one else to talk to. No one else to keep him going. He was alone now. Until they finally had enough mercy to kill him.