CHAPTER TWELVE | DOWN THE RABBIT HOLE

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THEY ARRIVED BACK AT THE BEACH IN ORDER TO GAIN CELL SERVICE. Klara, Stefan, and Rebekah sat on one of the rocks that overlooked the sea in front of her while Elena wandered up and down the seafront on the phone to Caroline.  Klara missed Caroline; she knew that if the Forbes vampire were with them, none of this would be happening. Caroline was far too prepared to let anyone go missing.

"He'll never give up the sword," Rebekah spoke in reference to her brother who was in fact trapped in Elena's living room due to a boundary spell set by Bonnie. 

"If any of us were able to get Klaus to do something, I'd place my money on Caroline." Klara glanced at Rebekah with a small chuckle.

"He will never give up the sword, not even for Caroline." Rebekah looked between Stefan and Klara as they sat beside her. "He's terrified we'll use the cure against him to make him mortal, and even if he wasn't, he wouldn't want any of us to derive a moment's worth of happiness from being human."

"Well, maybe he doesn't have to give it up." A look fell across Stefan's face and it was a look that Klara knew all too well. "I mean, Klaus is stuck in Elena's house by Bonnie's spell. He can't go anywhere. There are only so many places you can hide a three-foot piece of metal."

"Thank you, Caroline." Elena thankfully breathed out once she ended the call as Klara walked beside her. "Caroline's gonna send us the information as soon as she gets the sword."

"So, I figured you and I could have a chat about what happened the other night." Klara awkwardly spoke as she and Elena walked slowly down the seafront. Stefan and Rebekah were left by the rocks, but she wanted clear the air with Elena herself. "I'm sorry if I made you feel like we were trying to keep you and Damon apart."

"No, it's okay. I know you were trying to look out for me. I should be the one that's sorry, Klara, I was awful to you." The doppelganger gave an apologetic glance toward her friend. "I should've never even laid a hand on you. That was wrong. I'm sorry, too."

"Well, I'm glad we sorted that out." Klara exhaled a sigh of relief. Since she and Elena had the disagreement the night Kol compelled Damon to kill Jeremy, she felt awkward around Elena. "The sooner we get the cure and go home, the better."

Elena and Stefan walked over to Stefan as soon as Rebekah wandered over. She slid her phone into her pocket with a sheepish look on her face. "Caroline sent me pictures of the map. We're ready to go."

Klara extended her hand toward her boyfriend, who took it and used it to pull himself from the rock. Stefan gently kissed her forehead before the two followed after Elena and Rebekah. "It's gonna be weird seeing you human." Klara looked toward Stefan.

The Salvatore quietly chuckled under his breath before he furrowed his brows at her. "You do realize I'll look exactly the same, right?"

"Actually, you'll lose the fangs." The blonde gave him a pointed look as she skipped along beside him. "Oh my, God. And, eventually, you might even lose your hair!"

"What? No!" A look of complete terror fell across Stefan's face at the thought of him no longer having hair. "Uh, is it too late to back out now?"

Klara bumped into him gently as his serious demeanor suddenly faded. "Stefan, you're not funny. Hopefully, humor might be something to gain when you lose the broody-vampire-look."

"Hey, hurtful. I thought the broody-vampire-look was what drew you to me?"

"Nope. It was the hair." Klara smirked. "Shame it'll fall out when you grow old." 

The group of vampires finally stopped at the quarry, just on the edge of the cliffs that overlooked a small section of water. Rebekah held out her phone as if she were scanning the map then nodded. "We need to get down and cross. Advantages vampires: all we have to do is jump."

"Wait, wait!" The doppelganger yelled out and immediately everyone halted on the edge of the cliff. "Um, maybe you should leave the map behind. In case you fall, you don't want anything to happen to the phone."

"Are we doing this again?" Rebekah leaned forward and glared at Elena's mistrust. "I thought we were a team?"

"Guys, we don't have time for this." Stefan Salvatore rolled his eyes at the two girls who were constantly bickering. He glanced toward the brunette. "Elena, you go first. We'll be right behind you."

Elena reluctantly took a run and leaped from the edge of the cliff. There was a rather large distance between where she was, and where she needed to land but the fall only appeared to last for a few seconds. She landed on her feet and then turned around to look up at the rest of the vampires.

"Alright, I'll go next." Klara tilted her head and looked as if she were ready to jump, but Rebekah placed her hand on her shoulder to stop her.

"There's something you should know about the cure." Rebekah hesitantly spoke as Stefan and Klara both furrowed their brows. "Nik was the one that helped Caroline gather the information we needed. But, he also said something else: there's only one dose of the cure."

Stefan bit his lip as if he were considering his options. He knew that Elena needed the cure because she was sired to Damon, but he wanted it for himself and Klara so badly. "So, you're sure that Klaus is telling the truth?" Rebekah nodded.

"Well, would you look at that." Klara sighed out in a defeatist tone from beside Stefan. "The minute you get your hopes up, they get dashed in a second. We're idiots."

"There's still hope for one of us. I'm sorry that it couldn't work out the way we all wanted it to." Rebekah sped behind Stefan and snapped his neck, his body dropped at Klara's feet before she turned to the blonde. "I am truly sorry, Klara, but I need this a lot more than you do. I want to live and die as I choose."

"So do I, Rebekah. So does everyone that's on this damn island." Klara snapped immediately. "Just please, please don't do this. We can find another way." 

"Sorry, but there isn't one." Rebekah grabbed Klara's head and twisted it viciously until she broke it.

Stefan woke first and pulled a blood bag from his rucksack and began to sip on it to regain his strength from the neck snap. The smell of the blood was enough to cause Klara to wake from beside him with a loud gasp. "Hey." He breathed out and offered the blood to his girlfriend.

Klara thankfully took hold of the blood and took a few sips. "Where the hell is she?" As the blonde handed the blood bag back to Stefan, she immediately realized. "Oh. She's gone, hasn't she?"

"Yeah." He nodded. "Klara, I'm so sorry. I got your hopes up for this cure, I should never have done that—" 

"—This is not your fault. Don't apologize, okay?" Klara gave him a genuine smile as she fiddled with her hands that laid in her palms. "When I turned, I understood that there was no way out of this for me and I made peace with it a long time ago. It's fine. We can still have everything we wanted, just without the growing old and the kids of our own part."

"Hey, at least this means I get to keep my hair." Stefan chuckled in an attempt to make a joke, but he could see how disheartened Klara actually was by the news. She sighed out and rested her head on his shoulder as Elena jumped back up to the top of the cliff. "Oh, Elena. I'm sorry."

"Maybe this is a blessing in disguise," Elena stated. She had heard all about the fact there was only one dose of the cure. "Things changed the minute I went off that bridge. Even if I could be human again, I wouldn't be the person that I was. So it's about time that I accept the person that I am now and figure out a way to start living the rest of my life."

"The rest of your life sired to Damon." Stefan corrected with a pointed look.

"I guess we'll have to deal with that when we get home." Elena nodded, but her face immediately changed. "Oh, my God. Home. Klaus. Bonnie's spell isn't going to hold him."

"Oh crap. If we don't get the cure and shove it down Klaus' throat, he'll kill all of us because of what we did to Kol." Klara breathed out almost instinctively as she got up to her feet. "We need to go, now."

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Klara, Stefan and, Elena headed into the caves that Rebekah had hinted they needed to enter. The blonde vampire saw Damon leaned against a wooden post with rope around as neck while his attacker jumped down a shaft which presumably was the way to the cure. 

Stefan headed straight over to Damon and tried to release the rope around his neck, but it was steeped in vervain. "You're wasting time. Just go get the cure." Damon winced through the sound of his skin burning. "Go."

"We're not gonna leave you," Elena spoke up from beside Klara.

"No, we aren't. Klara, you and Elena go ahead. We'll be right behind you." Stefan glanced toward the two girls that stood with anxious looks on their faces. The Salvatore turned his attention to Klara, who tugged Elena near the shaft. "Go."

Klara jumped down the shaft first, followed by Elena. The blonde was reluctant to leave Stefan and Damon behind, but she knew that they needed to grab the cure before anyone else did. "It's like a freakin' maze down here!" Klara exhaled frantically. The tunnels looked exactly the same.

Elena's footsteps echoed from behind Klara as she looked around at all the different options. "How are we supposed to know where to go?" 

"I don't know. Listen for Jeremy and Bonnie, maybe?" Klara suggested. The two stopped walking and tried to listen out for familiar voices, but instead, they heard a loud thud come from behind them. "Stefan? Hello?"

"Elena, do— Klara turned around to see that Elena had literally disappeared from the tunnels. The blonde twirled around twice before she exhaled deeply. "What the hell?"

She started walking further into the tunnels as soon as she heard the familiar sound of Jeremy and Bonnie. Relief ran through her and removed the fear that coursed through her veins the minute Elena disappeared. Maybe she had heard Jeremy and wanted to get there first. 

Before Klara knew it, she was pinned against the tunnel wall by Elena. But, as the blonde's eyes refocused and she looked properly toward the girl, she realized it wasn't Elena. "Katherine."

"Well, if it isn't my favorite blonde." Katherine's hand tightened around Klara's windpipe. She stood with a smirk on her face. "Just so happens that I'm looking for this cure, too."

"Why the hell would you want to be human?" Klara breathlessly spoke as Katherine's grip tightened. "Unless—"

"That's quite enough of you." Katherine snapped Klara's neck with ease and let her body fall at her feet. The doppelganger rolled her eyes and sped off further into the tunnels. 

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