"Maybe I finally realized the longer I stand in the way of what you want, the longer you'll continue to hate me. Perhaps I want my sister to finally know happiness." A small pause. "And trying to control your decisions reminded me of what I did with Aurelia. I don't need to be making the same mistakes all over again."

"Fool me once, shame on you; fool me a hundred times—"

"No more fooling. No more games. I hope you get to live, and die, as you wish." And Rebekah let out a breath of relief at the seal of approval she'd received. "There is one more thing, Rebekah."

"Tell me."

"There is only one dose of the cure." Klaus' words were followed by stumbling on the other end of the phone, and Rebekah's eyes shot wide open at the fact dawned on her. "You need to find it first and take it. It's the only way you'll—"

"Nik—" Her voice turned alarmed quickly when he cut out entirely, and his warnings were replaced by the incessant beeping that indicated the end of the call. Caroline was smart, she needed something over the Original's head, and that was it.

How unfortunate that Niklaus decided to foil those plans.

Rebekah poked the inside of her cheek with her tongue when she eyed the group again, who were walking, talking, and completely unaware of the very important call she'd just received.

"LISTEN, YOU LITTLE SHIT—" DAMON SALVATORE was much less than pleased when he was shoved forward. His ego, already fragile, was bruised and battered entirely at the mere thought of being held captive to a mortal, of all beings. A random Hunter like Jeremy, but someone who'd inevitably die of old age. Disappointing, he knew Aurelia would say to him if the group ever found him. "You touch me again—"

"And you'll what?" Galen Vaughn, in his charming, pathetic little accent, just smiled as though all of the cards were in his hands—a century-old vampire tied up, vervained, and subject to his every command. "Threaten me? Sorry if you're upset about the cure, Damon, but we've got road to cover." Damon growled—if his hands were free of those pesky vervain-soaked restraints, he'd strangle Vaughn, he really would.

"I don't care about the cure." He spat out, rather venomously for someone who was tied up in all the manners he didn't like. "In fact, I don't know why anyone wouldn't want to be a vampire. You know what? If I wasn't a vampire, then I wouldn't be able to do nine of the things I'm gonna do to you when I'm free." Vaughn just shoved him forward again, roughly ensuring that their journey to the cure wasn't unnecessarily lengthened. "Make that ten."

"Right."

"All right, I admit, okay?" Damon's snarls began to turn into slight whines as he only wanted to throw a slightly violent tantrum. "My friends want the cure, and I want them to have it, and I get very upset when I can't provide for my loved ones." And then he turned to face the Hunter, walking backwards. "But tell me something, Vaughn, if all you're worried about is Bonnie the teenage witch, then why'd you save Jeremy and Elena yesterday?"

When he woke up earlier in the day, under the captivity of this previously unknown man, he'd figured quickly that it was, in fact, Galen Vaughn, that killed the man that attempted murder on Jeremy the previous night. The murderous savior, as Rebekah had put it.

But when Vaughn stared back at him, eyebrows crossed in confusion, Damon had to pause a moment to wonder if he was the anonymous man roaming the island, or if that was yet another party looking for the cure.

"How did I do that?" The Hunter asked, and Damon internally swore.

"Big guy," He narrowed his eyes when he tried hard to recollect his thoughts. "White paint all over him—you stuck a damn hatchet in his spine."

"I don't remember doing such a thing." Vaughn said. Damon swore again, externally this time, and stopped to look pointedly at his captor, who tried to tug on the ropes and traps that held the vampire to push him forward.

"We're on a remote island. There's you," said vampire pointed frustratedly at Vaughn. "Me," He pointed towards himself. "And a bunch of unpleasant locals. You expect me to believe that someone else took out that monster truck of a human being that went after Jeremy and Elena?"

"I'm telling you," Vaughn began to wonder if he'd chosen the right vampire to kidnap—or if the one he'd landed up taking was nuts. "It wasnae me." And he shoved Damon once again, only for the kidnapped to stumble forward as he tripped over a rather large log just lying on the dried leaves of the dense forest.

But when Damon refused to walk forward again, Vaughn took a look at where the elder had been staring with such wide, contemplative eyes of disbelief. "Was that you?" Damon tilted his head and continued to stare at the dead body in front of him, internally relieved that it wasn't anyone he knew.

"No," Vaughn breathed out. "You?"

"No." Damon sucked in his cheeks to hollow them out slightly—unable to guess what murderous other party had secretly decided to join them on this expedition, and who else they were going to try and kill.

"Well," Vaughn sighed. "I reckon there really is someone else on this island."

"IT'S JUST AMAZING, ISN'T IT?" WITH EVERY WORD that left the wonderful Professor Shane's lips since he'd manipulated Bonnie and kidnapped Jeremy from their camping site, Jeremy could've sworn he was going madder and madder. "Once we raise Silas, all of our sacrifices will have been worthwhile; we'll all have what we want."

"Or," Bonnie pressed her lips into a thin line, eyes scanning the dim cave that the trio had just set foot in—a source of light illuminated the very center of the new, unfamiliar chamber of the cave network they'd decided to explore. "He'll kill us all."

"Listen," Shane tried to grab onto Bonnie's shoulder to reassure her, but Jeremy stepped in between them, making the professor retract his arm. "...you're going to see that I'm right." He looked at the two supernatural beings skeptically, now. "Just so you don't get any ideas, remember, anything happens to me, something a lot worse will happen to you." And said beings just rolled their eyes at the cuckoo professor.

"All right," Jeremy huffed, adjusting the way his strap sat on his shoulder. "Where is this stupid magic passage she needs to open?" Shane walked ahead of the group, looking around the large chamber as he scratched through his mind for any ideas.

"Just—look for anything that looks out of place, okay?" His eyes moved away from the walls, his flashlight failing to find anything of interest hanging or etched onto them. "Anything not occurring in nature like a—" He looked away from the ceiling and towards the ground. "Drawing or inscription—" And then his eyes lit up. "Or a geometrically perfect circle."

Jeremy and Bonnie frowned at the sudden sense of confidence in his tone, and watched as he crouched on the ground, hand reaching to the dusted floor and pushing away the years of accumulated dirt, dust, and rocks to reveal a carved, and perfect line etched into the ancient stone. One that, upon more uncovering, would form the circle that meant one thing only.

They'd practically reached the cure.

"THAT'S... ONLY FIFTY FEET OF A DROP." Aurelia's remark was accompanied by a slightly disappointing tone, and followed by the kick of a small stone right off the cliff. "I've seen better." And she turned her head to Rebekah. "You really should be faster with your directions."

"Patience." Rebekah said, inhaling deeply. "Such an important virtue, is it not?" When she took a look at the screen she held in her hand, she gestured to the cliff the group had arrived in. "We need to get down and across. Should be easy since we're vampires."

"Wait, wait—" Elena stepped forward. "Um—maybe you should... leave the map behind. In case you fall, you don't want anything to happen to the phone." Aurelia placed a palm on her eyes, Rebekah scoffed, and Stefan covered his face with his hands, rather unhappy at the conflict that was about to ensue.

"Are we doing this again?" Rebekah asked, shooting a dirty look at the brunette. "I thought we were a team?"

"Guys," Stefan chose to play the diplomat, though still unhappy with Elena's immaturity. "We don't have time for this. Elena, you go first—we'll be right behind you." Elena, who looked once at each of the three older vampires, pressed her lips into a thin line and stepped off the cliff, unable to contain a small yelp of fright that only entertained Aurelia.

"She's a vampire who's miraculously avoided death a few years now—why is she scared of a fifty-foot drop?" Stefan hummed in response to her comment, but Rebekah remained silent for a moment.

"There's something you should both know about the cure." Rebekah was unsettlingly serious and somber, causing the pair next to her to look at her with concern, while she stared at the doppelganger who'd just made her landing. "There's only one dose. Klaus told me."

And then there was shock—Aurelia, in all her years of research, never truly knew about what form the cure would have been in, or if there was one dose—she knew little compared to where she was now. Of course, with her current relationship with vampirism, she wasn't all too upset by there only being one dose, except for perhaps Stefan.

He'd mentioned that he thought of being human last night. In their hours and hours of conversation, she'd found out that he was unsure about allowing mortality to flow through his veins again. He must have felt some form of disappointment.

But no, he was just surprised by the revelation, too. "So, you're sure that Klaus is telling the truth? That there's only one dose of the cure?" When Rebekah nodded, Aurelia simply shrugged.

"I guess we can find it and then see who needs it the most." She mumbled, unable to think of any other realistic way for their complicated situation to lead to. "Let's go—"

"I'm sorry," Rebekah's voice cracked a second, and she looked at the pair once again. She needed to be human, a millennium of life had been enough—never mind the doppelganger who'd gotten spoon-fed for the last two years. "It can't work out that way." Before Stefan could react, he felt the Original firmly grasp his shoulder and his head, pushing both places against each other to a point his body clearly couldn't handle.

"Stefan—" Aurelia only let a gasp slip out of her lips, eyes darting to Rebekah in horror when she snapped his neck without any hesitation. "Rebekah! What the hell—" And she caught Stefan's body as his knees buckled. "This is crazy! There's gotta be another way to handle this—" Aurelia was helpless, looking up now at the woman who stood tall with a fierceness in her eyes. The younger could only cradle Stefan's body in her arms, looking up with lowered eyebrows that only signalled pleas and begs for some form of sanity to dawn upon the Original Vampire.

"I'm sorry, 'Lia."

WHEN STEFAN BEGAN TO STIR AWAKE, THE FIRST thing he noticed was the light of the day, tinted orange, diffusing through his closed eyelids. He then felt his shoes and calves resting against the hard, rough, surface of rocks and stones—but his arms, head and shoulders, rested upon something soft and comfortable.

The next thing he noticed was the distant echo of someone's voice—panicked, stressed out; he recognized Aurelia's sweet voice almost instantly, taking a moment to subconsciously recall when she'd sounded so worried last.

When he squinted his shut eyes slightly, she spoke again, called, "Stefan? Are you awake?" And her voice raised in volume just so slightly, but almost felt gentler when she realized she was addressing him. "Stefan? It's...me—Rebekah just snapped your neck." Her voice reached complete clarity when he reached complete consciousness, and his eyes shot open. "Oh, good." Aurelia was more than relieved that he was awake, unable to shake off the devil on her shoulder that whispered and teased her about her unnecessary concern for the mere snap of his neck. "You haven't been out for very long, don't worry."

Stefan looked upwards once his eyes had adjusted to the light, and found Aurelia's face right over his, about a half-foot away as her hair hung around her face, framing her contoured cheekbones. She'd been examining him—something he found a little confusing; he'd only had his neck snapped, but her paranoid concern for his wellbeing only made him force an endearing smile away from painting his lips. "Hey."

Aurelia let out a half-chuckle. "Hi. Are you okay to sit up?" And Stefan quickly obliged, though his eyes stayed on her form. She had a worried smile, and a blood bag ready in her hand for him to drink from. "We don't have a lot of time, I'm sorry—I caught Elena up on the whole ordeal. Dealt with a bratty reaction, scolded her, and sent her to go ahead and try to console Rebekah."

"Yeah, that's good—I'm glad you navigated that fast." And he took a deep breath. "This is a mess." Aurelia shook her head in response, handing him the bag.

"I'm sorry, I know you wanted that cure..."

"I was unsure." Stefan was honest when he spoke. "And I've lived a century as a vampire. I can go another, and then another eventually." His reassuring smile put Aurelia at ease, but his eyebrows quickly crossed upon looking at her a while longer. "Are you okay?"

She blinked several times. "What?"

"You look pale—paler than before. Have you had any blood today?" Aurelia raised her hand to cup her own cheek, breaking eye contact with him—she felt the irony creep in, that she'd stopped looking at him so he wouldn't see what she was keeping from him in that moment.

"I'm okay." She finally said—he didn't believe her of course, but the hesitation she had before she spoke made him think she was waiting on whatever she knew. She'd never had that hesitation before when she lied or hid something from him. "Let's catch up to the other two?"

"Yeah—" Stefan quickly got to his feet, but offered a hand to the woman before she could stand up. When she shot him a look that could only be described as a 'really?' look, he bent down, arm reaching even further out to land on her waist.

"Stefan!" Aurelia laughed once as she whined, finding a moment of amusement in all their recent stress. "Hey, I am a strong, independent—" She continued to laugh through her words as Stefan's arm snaked its way between her waist and her backpack, before effortlessly lifting to her feet. "Hey!"

"I think what you meant to say was, 'Thanks'—OW!" He rubbed his sore arm from her violent act of abuse (moderately painful punch).

"THIS IS A MESS OF CAVES—" AURELIA, DESPITE HER gift of supernaturally enhanced vision, found herself squinting in the dim light of the cave to aid with clear vision. "We need to hurry up and find someone before there's another dead guy in the vicinity."

As Stefan began to speak, a strangled cry bounced off the many rocky walls of the chamber of caves they'd just entered, causing the pair's heads to shoot up and look at each other. "Who the hell was that?"

"Oh my God—it's Rebekah, shit." Aurelia felt herself panic immediately at the more than concerning scream she'd heard her adoptive sister let out, and rushed as much as her vampiric speed would allow, pushing herself to instinctively move towards the direction of the noise. She had heard Stefan try to protest her impulsive decision, but ignored it, and could hear his footsteps—or rather, the whistling of air left by vampires that used their gifted speed—right behind her own.

When the two had reached the chamber they had presumed the noise to come from, Aurelia felt like they'd hit the jackpot. "Damon?" Stefan was surprised and relieved at the sight of his missing brother tied to a pole by a rope that seemed to leave red burn marks on his throat. "Where've you been? We've all been looking you for the last few hours—"

"Long story, brother—" Damon was clearly struggling to form a coherent sentence, with his eyes squeezed shut, teeth gritted and hands unable to hold onto the rope binding his throat for more than a few seconds. "Aurelia, care to magic my way out of this?" Aurelia's eyes fell upon the person whose voice brought her and Stefan to this clearing; her eyes wide from shock at Rebekah's neutralized body laying just next to Damon. Above her was none other than Elena Gilbert, trying to pull one of many pieces of wood embedded in the Original's body. "Aurelia—"

"What the hell happened here?" Aurelia only asked, dropping her backpack to make her way towards Damon, hands reaching for the rope around his throat.

"No—" And Aurelia hissed in pain before Damon could warn her properly, fingers hot and skin sizzling from a mere two-second contact with what she figured now was a vervain-coated rope. "Genius—I told you to magic me out of this for a reason, 'Lia." Aurelia threw her friend an annoyed look. "There's a Hunter on this island, like Jeremy, one of the Five—"

"What?" Stefan and Aurelia chorused, mentally cursing at the luck they had in their lives. "Where is he?"

"He was going on and on about Silas ever since he stuck a stake in my back to kidnap me—so I'm guessing he's gone to find Silas." Aurelia, beginning to lose her mind with the Silas bullshit, only groaned and her hands neared the rope again. "Hey, didn't you just burn—"

"Shut up, loser." Aurelia snapped; eyebrows furrowed in a frown. "Let me do my thing. Stefan, help Elena get whatever those are out of Rebekah, please—" Stefan quickly obliged, running over to the doppelganger to pluck out the splinters from Rebekah's body.

"He had a bunch of traps—I thought he'd been the one to kill hatchet guy last night, but apparently not." Damon continued to speak through everyone's focus, hoping to catch them up on the traumatizing (slightly inconvenient) experience he'd had.

"We need to hurry up and find the others now, before anything bad happens." Stefan suggested urgently, before turning to Elena. "Elena, go."

"But—" Elena didn't finish speaking, realizing that her help here was no longer necessary, but more beneficial if she'd used herself to find Bonnie and her brother. "Okay." And she was gone immediately, having jumped straight into the hole, and one of the ropes straightened itself to whistle slightly at the doppelganger's grip sliding rapidly downwards.

"Now I'm pretty sure from those ropes—" Damon pointed to the large hole in the very center of the chamber, and to the trekking ropes suspended above it. "That Shane, Jeremy, and Bonnie are already down there. Now, so is that Hunter, and I'm ready to do some killing after all this crap—" He moved his neck, only to hiss at the vervain stinging at his already raw skin. "Aurelia, is it not working?" As he tried his best to move his immobilized neck to look at the blonde, who'd been standing at his side.

And he saw something odd—her eyes had turned white entirely, devoid of her memorable grey-blue irises and pupil. "Aurelia?" Stefan piped up, worried at the lack of response from the eldest of the three. "What's going