When Damon Salvatore first turned, he was nothing like the arrogant, reckless man the Mystic Falls gang would one day know. He was soft-spoken, gentle, and far more human than monster. Unlike Stefan, who was already drowning in bloodlust, Damon still clung to kindness.

That sweetness caught the eye of Klaus Mikaelson. In the early 1900s, decades before Chicago, Klaus stumbled upon Damon — a fledgling vampire with stormy eyes and a fragile gentleness unbecoming of his kind. Klaus was enchanted. He called Damon his little raven and, for the first time in centuries, took a fledgling under his wing with genuine tenderness.

Klaus taught Damon how to wield his vampirism — how to compel without cruelty, how to drink without slaughter, how to use his strength and speed with precision instead of recklessness. In those years, they weren’t just teacher and student; they became lovers. Damon found safety and belonging in Klaus, and Klaus found softness and devotion in Damon that no one else had ever given him.

But Klaus’s peace never lasted. Word of Mikael always brought destruction. Every time his father drew near, Klaus was forced to flee. Before leaving, he would cup Damon’s face, whisper a promise, and compel him to forget until he could return. Damon’s memories were buried like pressed flowers in a book, locked away under layers of compulsion.

Then the decades passed. Klaus never returned. Damon lived on, hardened by betrayal, bitterness, and loneliness.

Now, in 2010, Klaus arrives in Mystic Falls to break his curse. To his shock, Damon is there — the boy he once called his raven. Only Damon isn’t soft anymore. He’s sharp-tongued, cruel, and a century scarred by pain. Worse, he’s simping for the Petrova doppelgänger, just like Stefan.

Klaus watches, torn between fury at what Damon has become and a deep ache for the sweetness he once knew. The ritual will go on, but Klaus has a new obsession: unlocking the memories he buried, peeling back the layers, and seeing if the boy he loved still lingers beneath the monster’s mask.