CHAPTER ELEVEN | INTO THE WILD

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JEREMY HAD KILLED KOL MIKAELSON WHICH IN TURN, COMPLETED HIS TATTOO AND THE MAP TO THE CURE. The only person that was able to read the map was Professor Shane which meant he had to join them on the quest to the cure whether they liked it or not. 

They had to endure an eight-hour plane journey, then a boat ride to an island two hundred miles off of Nova Scotia mainland. The island was thought to have been the location of where Silas was buried—with the cure to vampirism. The island was rather foggy, however, Klara couldn't help but find the atmosphere slightly endearing. 

Klara stood with wide eyes as she admired the view while Stefan tided knots with some rope. Rebekah was also with the couple since she happened to be involved with them since they found the headstone. Klara turned her eyes to the Original, who glared at Elena when she walked past. "Rebekah."

"Stefan's perfectly capable of tying a knot." She retorted while her eyes followed the doppelganger as she passed them.

"You're giving Elena the evil eye." Stefan looked up from his current task to observe the Original's behavior. "It's not really helping."

Rebekah took a breath as she glanced between Klara and Stefan. "She killed my brother, tried to get you to put a dagger in my back. She's lucky all she's getting is the evil eye."

Elena continued to walk, but a huff escaped her lips. "You know I can hear you, right?"

"You know I don't care, right?"

Elena stopped in her tracks and then sped straight toward Rebekah in an attempt to stake her with the White Oak. Instead, Klara grabbed hold of Elena before she made contact with Rebekah, and pushed her to the ground. "Stop it! We're all here for the same thing today. So whatever grudge you and Rebekah have against each other: table it." The blonde vampire warned as soon as Rebekah and Elena walked off in opposite directions.

"Come on. We've got to get going." Professor Shane bellowed to the entire group before he led them all up and through the forest. The endless stamina was something that Klara enjoyed about vampirism, even more so when you had to endure hours out hiking. Eventually, Professor Shane pulled out his phone. "Satellite phone lost its signal."

"That's a good sign." Damon sarcastically quipped, but the Professor chose not to respond to him.

"Is anyone else a little creeped out?" Elena asked the group in the hopes that maybe someone else would be able to relate to the uncomfortable feeling she felt.

"So, then leave," Rebekah spoke as she walked a little in front of Klara, who walked with her hand intertwined with Stefan's. "Out of everyone, your presence is the least necessary."

"Rebekah, I could've sworn I told you to table your crap on the beach?" Klara sighed with a slight shake of her head as she began to swing her and Stefan's arms. "Just don't start. Please."

"I'm merely stating the facts." The Original vampire shrugged. "Jeremy has the spell on his body. Bonnie's the witch that unsealed the cure. Shane is the human compass. You, Stefan, and I have the tombstone which does God knows what. And Elena has no point."

Damon shrugged, almost as if he were hurt. "What about me?"

"You have a nice behind," Rebekah answered with a slightly louder voice to ensure he heard her considering he was at the front of the congregation.

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Night had fallen, the group of supernaturals were still hiking through the forest. Klara and Stefan remained at the back of the group, teasing each other and making jokes while Shane explained the stories of the island.

"Centuries after Qetsiyah died, there were these miners who were excavating a well on the island. They suddenly went mad. They bled themselves dry. No apparent reason." Shane told the group as they walked. "So, the legend spread that these miners, in exchange for a drop of their blood, saw visions of their lost loved ones in the well they were digging. The word traveled and explorers sought out the well to see if the legend was true."

Bonnie raised an eyebrow. "So, the well was magic?"

"Well, you know, some people believe the voices of lost souls were just a wind vortex whipping through the caves. Visions were caused by inhaling the island's poisonous plant life."

The group had all stopped in their tracks as a somber expression fell across the Professor's face. Klara tilted her head, curiously. "What do you believe?"

"I believe in magic. My wife and son died within months of each other. And so, I decided to try the well out for myself." He took a breath and glanced down to the palm of his hand. "I cut my hand, offered up my blood, and waited. I saw my wife. I saw her eyes, her smile. My blood let me see her again."

"Yeah. Got it." Damon nodded sarcastically as he gave a look toward Klara. "Goldie-Locks, no eating the poisonous flowers."

"Shut up, Damon." Klara rolled her eyes as they all began to walk through the forest once more. 

"Is everybody paying attention?" He asked as he glanced at every person that followed his lead. "Our first lesson in survival." He picked up a rock and few it a few feet in front of him which triggered a net trap. The net swung up into the trees as the group gasped. "Stay together. Keep your eyes open."

The Professor continued to lead them through the forest, while a small groan escaped Klara's lips. Stefan scoffed as he turned his head to his girlfriend. "What's up? Tired?"

"Tired. Bored. Hungry. All of the above." Klara swallowed deeply as she tucked a piece of hair behind her ear. Eventually, they found some sort of clearing in the woods. "Where are we?"

"According to island lore, a group of college kids came here for spring break." Professor Shane explained as he gestured to the wooden shed that stood in front of them. "A few weeks later, they were all found dead completely drained of blood."

"Well, tragic for them, brilliant for us." Rebekah took a breath as she looked around. "Who sleeps where?"

"Well, that's lovely. There's a mystery man with a hatchet lurking in the woods, and we're just gonna camp?" Damon skeptically looked around with a raised eyebrow and a light scoff.

"We're safer here than we are hiking in the dark."

Stefan and Klara broke off to pitch their tent in the clearing. Surprisingly, Stefan was pretty good at fixing their tent considering Klara had failed at the first few attempts. The Salvatore set up their sleeping bags beside each other in their tent, though Klara knew she only needed one thing to keep herself warm. 

"There." Stefan exhaled deeply as Klara sat on a log just outside of their tent. He smirked toward the blonde with an accomplished look on his face. "It's nothing on The Ritz, but it'll do."

"Never been to The Ritz so I can't compare." The blonde vampire pulled the fabric entrance to their tent away and crawled inside. It wasn't long before the two were laid in each other's hold, staring at the blue ceiling of their tent. "Wait. You've been to The Ritz? As one of the most expensive places in London?"

Stefan almost chuckled at Klara's obvious disbelief and nodded. "Yup. Before I came back to Mystic Falls I spent a while traveling, you know. I've always wanted to see what it's like, so I did."

"Well, I suppose if we take the cure and lose the perk of compulsion, we should kiss goodbye to things like that." Klara huffed before she peeled her head from his chest and looked into his eyes. "So, what's the plan for when we become boring mortals, hm?"

"That's the beauty of it, Klara. There isn't a plan." He smiled down toward the blonde in his hold as he tucked a strand of her hair behind her ear. "We can do whatever we want. Be whoever we want." 

Klara rolled her eyes playfully. "Oh, come on, we need some sort of plan." 

"Maybe we'll go somewhere far away; live a normal life. We can experience normal things without having to worry that someone's going to burst through the door and ruin it." He almost chuckled toward the end of his sentence. 

"Do you know how enticing that sounds?" The blonde vampire groaned in satisfaction before she dropped her head down onto Stefan's chest again. "Do you think we can chat more about this tomorrow? I'm kinda tired."

"Sure." Stefan smiled as he placed a kiss on the top of her head. "Goodnight, Klara."

"Night Stef." 

Klara and Stefan woke at exactly the same time with their bodies intertwined as they heard Elena's voice yelling for her little brother over and over. The blonde rubbed her eyes before she peeled herself from the tent and staggered over to the group with Stefan at her side. "Elena, what's wrong?" Klara asked.

"Jeremy's missing." The doppelganger vaguely explained, as if it wasn't already self-explanatory due to Elena's shouting. She glanced at the rest of the group. "Did you find anything?"

"He's not on the trail," Bonnie confirmed as she headed back toward them.

Shane appeared and pulled out Jeremy's backpack from his tent. "His gear's still here." With a sigh, he tossed the bag back onto the ground.

"Split up," Damon suggested with an almost worried tone in his voice.

"I'm gonna stay and try a locator spell." Bonnie glanced around hopefully at the group before she headed toward her tent.

"Okay." Shane nodded. "I'll stay here. I'll make sure she's safe."

"I'll stay here and make sure you're not lying." The eldest of the two Salvatores was clearly skeptical about Professor Shane's intentions. 

Elena glanced at Stefan, Klara and then Rebekah. She knew that Rebekah would undoubtedly join them to find Jeremy just to spite her, but she put her hatred aside for a moment. Her brother was missing. "Fine, we'll keep searching the island."

Stefan grabbed hold of Klara's hand and they began to walk away from the camp. Elena stormed ahead and led the group, which caused a scoff to escape Rebekah's lips. "Jeremy!" She yelled. "Jeremy!"

"Why don't you yell louder?" Rebekah asked with sarcasm lacing her words. "Maybe we haven't drawn enough attention to ourselves already."

"I'm sorry, and how are you helping?" Elena retorted in a rather snarky tone that caused Stefan and Klara to sigh. They predicted the two would have some sort of row shortly.

"I'm stronger than you. I'm faster than you, and I'm quite certain I can charm the islanders a lot easier than you." The Original vampire listed.

"Not disagreeing on the easy part."

"Oh, my God. Please can you two just stop it!" Klara snapped immediately once Elena had finished speaking. She rolled her eyes with a sigh. "Everyone knows you hate each other, but if you haven't got anything worthwhile to say, don't say anything."

"I tried to be her friend," Rebekah halted and glared at Klara. "But somehow, I ended up with a dagger in my back because I'm the evil one."

Elena scoffed. "Technically, you didn't achieve evil status until you killed me." The doppelganger continued walking with an irritated huff. She walked over a trip-wire which let off a trap. Rebekah sped forward and grabbed it before it killed Elena. 

"Nice catch." Stefan admired as he stepped forward to admire the trap within his grasp.

"Thank you."

"No, actually, thank you." Elena thankfully glanced toward the blonde Original. "This thing would've killed me."

"I don't care what happened to you either way." Rebekah let a small smirk fall across her face. "But, if you're gonna die, it might as well be epic."

Elena took a breath to readjust herself as she looked between the vampires. "I'm gonna go back and check on Bonnie. See if she found anything. Be careful."

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As soon as night fell, the group of vampires decided it would have probably been a better idea to head back to the camp. As they approached, they saw Elena frantically head toward them. "Where is everyone?" She asked with a look of sheer bewilderment.

Stefan furrowed his brows. "What are you talking about?"

"Well, Bonnie's not here and Shane's stuff is all gone."

"Oh, my God." Rebekah instantly breathed out before she ran over to her bags and then threw them down. "The tombstone's gone."  The Original vampire then rushed over to Elena's tent and began to go through her things.

"Rebekah, what're you doing?" Klara raised an eyebrow at the state of panic Rebekah was in.

The Mikaelson then dropped Elena's bags and sped toward her, grabbing her by the throat as she did so. "Where is the tombstone?! What have you done with it?"

Klara and Stefan remained silent as her hand tightened around Elena's throat. "What're you talking about?" The doppelganger gasped for air.

"Like it's not bloody obvious. All you people ever do is betray me and here you go again." Eventually, she released her grip on Elena's throat, who stumbled back beside Klara as Rebekah glanced at all three of them. "Was any of this real? Was it just a ploy to distract me while Shane ran off with the tombstone?"

"You think we would do that? You think we would let some psychopath run off with the cure?" Stefan asked the blonde in sheer disbelief. "Every single moment of my last 146 years has been ruled by the pain of being a vampire. And this cure ends that. It ends the guilt and it ends the suffering. You really think I would jeopardize that?"

"Fine. You didn't take it. But that doesn't mean I trust her." Rebekah's tearful eyes fell back onto Elena.

Elena took a breath and then dropped down to one of her bags. She pulled the White Oak stake from inside and held it out for Rebekah to take. "I didn't take it. But, here; consider this a peace offering."

Rebekah glanced down at the stake and then to Elena. "Don't you get it, Elena? There is no peace. We're all screwed!"

"Yeah, we are screwed," Klara spoke up as she folded her arms across her chest. "Bonnie and Jeremy are missing. Shane's got the tombstone. Damon's god knows where. All we've got is the four of us, right here. We can either tear each other apart, or we work together." Elena nodded in agreement with Klara and handed Rebekah the White Oak stake again, which she finally took. 

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