Chapter Text
Avery aka Avy is driving down a road heading out of Covington back towards Atlanta in order to catch her flight back home. She was buzzing from finally getting a decent photo of herself and Ian. Usually, something seems to go wrong, eyes mid blink or weird smile she can't ever remember making before, granted this was only her 3rd time at a convention, but still she felt like she had defeated some curse when she went to pick up her photo and saw it had actually come out pretty well.
Glancing over to the passenger seat of the rented SUV she was in she could see the protective brown sleeve the photo was in and smiled. She was already mentally trying to decide where in her home it would look best when she turned her attention back to the road, only to find a deer dead in the center of it. She had only glanced at the seat for a second, 2 at the most, but the animal seemed to have come out of nowhere.
Panicking, she quickly jerked the wheel sharply to the right, but there were too many trees on the shoulder of the road, and she wasn't able to completely get around the animal before she collided with it.
Suddenly, she felt the vehicle go airborne and flip on its side, and then again to the roof, the metal of the vehicle making a horrible sound against the asphalt as it slid further down the road.
Avy had her eyes squeezed as tightly shut as possible, just waiting for this horrible moment to finally pass, when finally the car came to a stop and all for a moment was quiet.
Taking a breath, she finally let herself open her eyes again, but almost immediately she could tell something was off.
First, it was much darker than it had been just a moment ago. In fact, it looked close to midnight right now but as far as she knew, it was still only just past 6... unless she had hit her head and blacked out? But she couldn't remember losing time like that and her head didn't feel like it had sustained an injury but maybe she had enough adrenaline pumping right now, she just couldn't feel the full extent of things.
Damn, that was a scary thought, but before she could think more on that, she caught some movement out of the corner of her eye and saw that the deer she hit in the road had morphed into a man. And now that man was getting up and starting to approach her. And it did not look like he was moseying over to check if she was alright, she had seen enough scary movies to recognize a creepy serial killer walk when she saw one.
Okay, what the fuck? How had this escalated so damn quickly!
Looking around for something to possibly defend herself with she catches sight of her reflection in the rearview mirror.
Granted, she was just in an accident and currently hanging upside down but that was not the reflection she had been used to seeing for the past 30-something years... no, if anything, that looked like early TVD era Nina Dobrev.
Uh, maybe she had hit her head after all.
There wasn't time to figure that out tho as the creepy man was almost upon her, not knowing what else to do, Avy simply let out a loud scream, hoping that might be enough to scare him off or maybe alert anyone nearby that someone was in trouble.
The man stopped approaching but it wasn't due to her scream, it was almost like he had heard something else but apart from a few bugs, Avy couldn't begin to guess what he could have heard. Still, whatever it was, it had him running off.
A second later, tho another man appears, this one shocking for a whole other reason.
"How ya doing in there?"
"Damon?" Avy asks. She might have said Ian if he had been about 15 years older and wearing a cowboy hat but this was decidedly not Ian Somerhalder.
"You look stuck," he says but Avy is still a bit in shock.
"Hey, Elena, you okay?" He says when Avy still hasn't said anything back.
"Uh... my uh my seat belt. I can't get it," she finally explains but he can pick up on the fear in her voice.
"Shh shh shh, let me get you out of there. I want you to put your hands on the roof," he tells her to which Avy complies.
"Just like that," he says, encouraged that she's at least cognisant enough to follow directions, "You ready? 1, 2, 3."
On 3, he ejects her seat belt and lets gravity do the rest.
"I got you," he says as he pulls her from the car. "Are you okay? Can you stand? Is anything broken?" he asks, firing off questions, starting to get concerned as "Elena" does not feel steady on her feet and keeps looking at him with nothing but dazed confusion.
"Uh-uh," is all she can mutter back as he takes her chin between thumb and forefinger as he tries to get her eyes to focus so he can rule out a concussion.
He tries to let her go but it becomes clear she can barely stand on her own and he quickly reaches back out to steady her.
"Whoa, you're fading fast, Elena. Elena, look at me. Focus. Look at me. Okay."
Avy looks from him back down to the car and back to him again.
"I look like her..."
"What?" he asks, but she faints before she can answer.
Damon grabs her and slowly puts her on the ground. He brushes her face with his hand, "Upsy-daisy," he says as he picks her up and carries her away.
Avy slowly comes to, noticing first how light it is now outside.
"Morning," An unmistakable voice says. Prompting her to whip her head to the left... It's Damon again. She was sure she had dreamed him, but it seems she's currently in his car.
Looking around, "Where are we? Are we still in Georgia?" she asks.
"Still?" Damon asks, confused, "We only just crossed into the state," he says, correcting her.
"I...I..."
"How ya feeling?" he asks, not having expected her to wake up still so confused. Maybe he should have given her some of his blood to be on the safe side. But there were no broken bones, he checked.
"My car... There was a deer and then the car flipped, and there was a man... he got up and... who was that?"
"That's what I would like to know," he tells her.
"Um, my uh bag, my phone... where is... look, I'm sorry, can we pull over for a second?"
Damon doesn't answer and keeps driving.
"Please, Damon, I mean it, pull over. Stop the car!" she shouts, finally snapping.
"Oh, you were so much more fun when you were asleep," he quips before reluctantly pulling over. He is, however, a bit more sympathetic once he notices how weak Elena seems to be as she struggles outside the car.
So much so he zooms over to her, crouching down to offer support.
"Hey."
"I'm fine," Avy tells him, "I just need to feel still for a second," she explains as possible explanations for everything keep running through her brain, each one more upsetting than the last.
What, had she died and with TVD recently on the brain, was she experiencing some prolonged last gasp on consciousness? Or had she really been in an accident and had hit her head so badly this was a very realistic coma dream? Neither option seemed all that great.
"Hey, it's okay, just breathe, that's it just focus on your breaths," Damon tells her, trying to help her stave off a panic attack as he sees whatever is on her mind is getting her more and more upset.
Her phone rings and it seems to snap her out of her internal spiral, "Is that my phone?" she asks and Damon nods.
"Hmm, it's your boyfriend. I'll take it," he says, hitting the answer button, "Elena's phone!" he says, sounding a bit too happy with the situation.
"Where is she? Why do you have her phone? Is she okay?" Avy can hear the voice of Paul/Stefan on the other end say.
"Elena? She's right here, and yes, she's fine... for the most part," Damon tells him.
"For the most part? What does that mean? Where are you? Let me speak to her," Stefan demands.
Damon rolls his eyes but offers the phone to Elena.
"He wants to talk to you."
Avy, not sure what she would even say to what she previously thought was a fictional character, just shakes her head no, "uh-uh."
"Yeah, I don't really think she wants to talk to you right now," Damon tells his brother, smirking a bit at this new development. Apparently, there was trouble in teenage paradise.
"Damon, I swear to God, if you touch her..."
"You have a good day, mm-hmm, bye now," he says quickly, hanging up.
"Sorry, just didn't know what to say to him," Avy explains.
"None of my business," Damon says, holding his hands up, "You feeling steady now? Can we get moving? We're almost there."
"Almost where?"
"A little place right outside of Atlanta. Oh, come on, Elena. You don't wanna go back right now. Do you? What's the rush? Time-out. Trust me. Your problems are still going to be there when you get home. Look. Step away from your life for five minutes. Five minutes!"
Avy supposed he had a point; whether she was dead, dying, or in a coma somewhere, she could hardly do much about it, might as well try to enjoy this... whatever it was.
"Okay, but no, mind control thing," Avy stipulates.
"Fine, promise. You're safe with me, just get in the car, come on."
Okay... here we go.