Ch. 1: The Mysterious Cave
In the caves, Bonnie and Jeremy were looking around. "Are you sure this is the right direction?" She asked him.
"I'm positive." Jeremy said. "There should be an opening somewhere around here."
"Well, I hope we find it fas…" She broke off and screamed as a large piece of rock behind her broke off and she lost her balance, falling through the crack.
"Bonnie!" Jeremy ran over to the opening. "Bonnie, are you okay? Can you hear me?"
"Yeah, I'm down here!" She called. Jeremy pulled out a flashlight and looked into the large crack where she'd fallen, but he couldn't see anything.
"Where are you?" Jeremy called to her. "I can't see."
"I'm not sure." Bonnie said. "It looks like I'm in some part of the cave." She looked around her. She could see rock walls around her, what looked like some kind of staircase and a pool of water near her feet. When she looked up, she could see a huge opening in the cave ceiling, which is what was causing the sunlight to reflect in.
She ran a hand through the sunlight. "Where am I?" She wondered to herself. Suddenly, there was a splash. She looked at the pool of water, but she saw nothing there.
"Bonnie! Stay where you are! I'm going to find help!" Jeremy called down to her. He turned around and ran, retracing their steps from the cave. He finally found Elena leaning against a wall, recovering. Stefan was sitting next to her.
"Jeremy?" Elena asked. "What's going on?"
"Bonnie fell off a cliff." He explained. Elena looked at him in shock.
"Is she okay?" Stefan asked him, really concerned about Bonnie's safety.
"She's said she's okay." Jeremy told them. "I can show you where she fell."
At that moment, Damon and Rebekah arrived. "What's going on? Did you find the cure already?" Damon asked. Then he noticed the concern and worry on everyone's faces. "Is everything okay here?"
"Bonnie fell off a cliff." Elena told them.
"What happened?" Rebekah asked. She seemed genuinely worried.
"Well, we were walking through the caves when a rock slide came down behind her. She lost her balance." Jeremy explained.
"She's alive, though." Stefan added. "Jeremy's been talking with her. Do you know exactly where she is?"
"No, she said she's somewhere in the caves." Jeremy told him. "But I can show you where she fell."
"Lead the way, then." Rebekah said.
"You want to help us?" Elena asked, surprised by her change in attitude.
"Personally, if it was my choice, I'd rather make sure your friend was okay than continue this stupid mission to finding a cure that likely doesn't exist." Rebekah told them.
"Well, we better get going, then." Damon said. "Every second we waste here is another second that Bonnie's still stuck somewhere in the caves."
Jeremy carefully led the group to where Bonnie had fallen. "She was standing there when it happened." He said, pointing to where she fell. "I had my flashlight, but I couldn't see anything."
"But you can still talk with her, right?" Damon asked.
"Yeah. Hang on." He moved a few feet back from where Bonnie fell. "Bonnie? Can you hear me?" He called down there.
"Jeremy? What's going on up there?" The group seemed surprised to hear Bonnie's voice.
"I brought help." He called back down to her. "Can you move or anything?"
"I'm not sure. I've just been sitting here, looking around the area. I think there was something down here with me."
"What do you mean?" Elena asked, calling down into the caves.
Bonnie looked around again. "I thought I heard something, but whatever it was is gone now." She called up.
"Okay, one of us should go down there and make sure she's okay." Stefan said.
"I'll go." Elena said. "I'm the reason we came here in the first place."
"Are you sure about this?" Damon asked her.
"Yes." She walked over to the edge. "Bonnie, I'm coming down! Hang in there!" She pushed off with all her strength and jumped.
She landed feet first, though stumbled slightly. "Still getting used to that."
"Elena?" She turned around. Bonnie was sitting down nearby, her legs stretched out in front of her.
"Are you okay?" Elena asked her.
"I'm not sure." Bonnie told her. Elena knelt down next to her and checked her for any signs of injury or broken bones. Bonnie winced slightly when she touched her ankle.
"It looks like your ankle's sprained." Elena said. She took off her denim jacket and used her powers to tear one of the sleeves off.
"I thought that was your…" She began.
"I can always get a new one." Elena told her. "You're hurt." She tightened the fabric around Bonnie's ankle. She'd learned a little about first aid from her parents. "Well, I think that should do it. Can you stand?"
"I think so." Bonnie said. She struggled to get to her feet, but after the first couple tries, she managed to get up. Elena held her for support.
"Okay, normally I'd woosh us up there, but I don't know if that's a good idea with you're ankle." Elena said.
"Yeah, that and we can't tell which up we're going to." Bonnie said. "Look up." Elena did and she could see the sky outside of one hole and a bunch of other crevasses above them.
"Is there another way out of here?" Elena asked her. Before Bonnie could respond, they heard a scream. Something had hit the ground, hard. They turned and saw the blonde Original, stretched out flat on her stomach. Her arms were spread as though she'd tried to break her fall.
"Rebekah?" They asked in unison. She groaned in pain and slowly sat up.
"What the bloody hell…" She turned so that she was facing the girls now.
"What happened?" Elena asked.
"Damon pushed me." Rebekah told them. "Since you'd been down here a while, we were trying to figure out if anyone else should go down to make sure you two were alright. While the guys were arguing, I peeked near the edge, hoping I'd see something. The next thing I know, someone pushes me from behind."
"How do you know it was Damon?"
"Because before I fell I heard your brother and Stefan arguing and Damon was unusually quiet." Rebekah said. "I should've known he was up to his old tricks."
"Is everything okay down there?" They heard Stefan call down to them.
"We're all okay, except Bonnie's got a sprained ankle. There's no way we'll be able to get back up there." Elena called up.
"Even if we wanted to. It's like a maze down here." Rebekah said, looking around.
"Guys! Just get out of here!" Bonnie called upward. "We'll find another way out of the caves."
"Are you sure?" Jeremy asked.
"Yes. Once we find our way out, we'll meet you at the campsite!" Rebekah said. The girls looked around. The cave had gotten darker because it was now night outside. They could see the stars through the gaps in the cave's ceiling.
"How are we going to get out of here?" Bonnie asked after a few minutes.
"We'll find a way." Elena said. "Maybe one of us should look down that tunnel."
"I checked it while you were readjusting the fabric around her ankle." Rebekah told her, sitting next to them. "It doesn't really lead anywhere, apart from the jungle. It'd take forever to navigate through it in this darkness."
"I thought you guys had great night vision." Bonnie said.
"What supernatural books have you been reading?" Rebekah asked. Elena glanced over at the pool of water and got an idea.
"Hey, guys." Elena said, running her hand through the water. "I think I found a way out. Remember how in science class they talked about underwater caves?"
"You think that pool leads to one that will get us out of here?" Bonnie asked.
"It's worth a try." Elena said. "I'm going to go down there to make sure though." She got up and started to walk toward the water, but hesitated.
"It's okay, I'll make sure she's safe." Rebekah told her. Elena nodded, knowing that she could trust her, and walked into the water. After a couple of minutes, she surfaced out of the water.
"There is an opening down here." Elena said. "If we get through it, we can swim back to the beach, to the camp site."
"I'm not sure if I'll be able to swim with my ankle." Bonnie said.
"Don't worry, we'll be right beside you the whole time." Rebekah told her. They both walked into the pool of water. Elena got on Bonnie's other side so that Bonnie was in the middle.
Just then, a full moon passed overhead. The water in the pool started glowing. They looked up and saw a bunch of light colored bubbles rise out of the pool.
"Wow." Elena said. It only lasted for a few seconds, but it was still amazing.
"I wish the guys were here to see this." Bonnie said. Rebekah was smiling.
"Okay, we better get going." Elena said. "Ready?" She counted to three and they all dove into the water. Bonnie struggled slightly, but Elena and Rebekah helped her. The three of them got through the small entrance and swam upwards, taking huge breaths when they surfaced.
"See? I told you we'd make it out." Elena said.
"You're surprisingly good at swimming." Rebekah said.
"I've been doing it since I was eight." Elena explained.
"So, do either of you know which way to the camp site?" Rebekah asked. Bonnie closed her eyes and focused.
"It's that way." Bonnie said. "Not too far from here, actually." They started swimming toward the beach. Once they got closer to the shore, the guys ran over to them and helped them back to the beach.
"Are you okay?" Jeremy asked.
"Yeah, we're fine." Bonnie said, relieved he was helping her walk back to camp.
"What were you guys doing in the water?" Damon asked, helping Elena.
"I'm surprised you're concerned." Rebekah said. "Since you're the reason I was in there in the first place."
"But you're all okay." Stefan pointed out, trying to keep the peace between the group.
"Yeah, but we should still get Bonnie's ankle checked out once we get home." Jeremy pointed out.
"So, any reason you decided to take a midnight swim?" Damon asked.
"We had to swim out a cave opening that was underwater." Elena told him.
"Good thing I packed a few towels in case something like this happened." Rebekah said. They headed into their tents, not knowing that things for them were about to change forever.
