**AUTHOR'S NOTE**

Thank you everyone who follows and favorites my story. Over 3,000 have read parts of it and the number continuously decreases though, please don't stop reading, and comment on what you like or don't like. This story is for you guys to enjoy and I want you to enjoy it.

trickster blue : I promise to write more

CutieChante : I wanted it to be portrayed that she embraces herself ya'know? The easiest way to do that would be for her to own up to her new/not-so-new name. I AM SO GLAD YOU NOTICE AND POINT OUT THESE THINGS.

VampireGirl1719 : AHHHHHHHH I am happy you like it and are excited for my updates

ItsMe : I love that you love it :) And don't worry, Ripper her is never too far

It took ten minutes for Octavia to calm herself down and get to the Lockwood caves. Damon had texted her the information that that Mason Lockwood was not to know of her arrival. Of course, whatever Damon wanted, he wasn't going to get. So when she heard her thought to be uncle utter words along the line of thanking Damon for coming on his own, she had to step in.

"He didn't come alone. This asshole is incapable of trust, it doesn't extend to you, which is understandable since he killed you. It also doesn't extend to me, so don't pout." She says with venom and a look that could kill. Damon unexpectedly bows his head in understanding and regret, it was far different for what she had expected, which was an eye roll and a smirk. Mason gave her a quick hug. He knew she wasn't his niece but she had been for about seventeen years

"I'm surprised you came though," Mason told Damon, "It seems you knew of her feelings, and yet you still come with to people who hate you, in an isolated cave."

Damon ignored their hidden threat and said to Mason, "You put a snag in my only other Klaus lead so I'd say I'm highly motivated."

"Mikael?" Mason asked.

Octavia froze mid step towards the wall. Mikael. She hadn't heard that name in a long time. It had been a thousand years historically, but only eighteen in her actual life time. She saw him to be a monster when he was human, even when he hadn't known of her true lineage he beat her. She was defiant and stubborn, all to quick to defend Niklaus or take blame for a siblings mistake. There where times she wished for death. Mikael as a vampire with the power to kill vampires terrified her even more. She knew that Bonnie's mother had sealed him in a tomb out of Mystic Falls and she knew that the Mystic gang would be stupid enough to wake him if it meant destroying Klaus.

Yes, she hated her brother for what he did to her. However, unleashing Mikael was the worst thing they could do, he would probably even kill them before he even heard of their plans for Klaus. Plus, she still cared for Klaus at the bottom pit of her heart, he was her family, no matter how mad she was. Voicing her thoughts was dangerous though. If Damon knew that she didn't want to raise Mikael, he wouldn't think she thought that for them, he would think she was thinking of Klaus. For him to think that would immediately put her on Team Klaus, they would try to kill her too. So she pretended she wasn't listening. She was going to become invalid. Neither for Klaus, neither for Damon, in return she would have the trust of both.

"Yeah," Mason continues, "That didn't turn out so great, did it?"

"How do you know so much?" Damon defects.

"There's not much to do on the Other Side but sit around and watch people screw things up." Mason says with humor and complete honesty.

"You don't have to be dead to do that, just watch along the side lines with me." Octavia calls.

Damon ignores her but she could hear Mason chuckle. "What are we looking for?" Damon says trying to get the attention on the situation at hand.

"There's an old Lockwood family legend about a weapon that can kill an original vampire," Mason than takes a shovel and tries to beat down the brickwall Octavia was once leaning on, "Like the rest of their secrets, they kept it buried." Mason goes to hit it again but it barely dents the wall.

Octavia grabs the shovel mid swing and yanks it out of his hands. Both guys look at her curiously. She gives them hard glares and she can feel her tribrid features coming out to play. Orange and brown eyes with flecks of blue from her witch side shine and Damon narrows his eyes positioned in an attack stance. Veins craw under her eyes but she can still see Mason step back a couple spaces. She fumes with anger and her voice portrays it well, "You brought me to a cave, in the middle of no where, when I was busy with my family just so I could help you find a weapon to kill and Original Vampire?! You think I would help you find something to kill me?" She asks Damon, "You think me a stupid person, LEECH!"

Damon relaxes his pose and puts his hands in the air to mimic surrender, "Why would I kill our ally? Unless you aren't an ally?"

"There goes the no trust Damon. Screw you!" Octavia seethes.

"Well you don't make it easy! How the hell do you expect me to trust you when you go have family time with Rebekah!? Huh? That is what you said on the phone, is it not?" Damon questions.

Octavia rush towards him with such anger that she throws him into the wall they were once trying to break into. She tighten her iron hold on his throat and hoisted him into the air before he could lift himself off the ground, "Mason wasn't the only ghost coming back from the dead!" Octavia seethed. Her voice was angry but her eyes had a tinge of sadness.

She can easily see his eyes widen in confusion until something clicks and he's looking at her with sadness. He tries to speak but the tribrid was grabbing his throat so hard blood began to dampen her hand. She was literally about to rip his head off. Letting him go so she couldn't do that pisses off the homicidal ripper in her head, but her humanity is relieved. Octavia Mikaleson has yet to kill anybody.

He chokes but gains enough strength to speak, "Your family, you meant the Thornwood family?"

Nodding, she can barely hear him say sorry as she struggles to reel back in her emotions. The blistering rage covered her body and to her it felt like she was burning, like she was fire. She knew she lost control, and Octavia knew that Damon had noticed the self restraint she had been giving his group. He now saw that the girl in front of him was struggling and that girl could only hope he appreciated her more.

"I promise, I swear, I give you my word or what ever you Mikaelson people say, I will not kill you or injure you. Only Klaus." Damon tells Octavia.

Octavia looks into his eyes and notices the sincerity. Him still going after her brother still scares her but she reminds herself to become invalid and not to show emotion. Mason by then shows up back into her life and she is shocked to see he was still standing there after everything. He leans forward into the hole where the tunnel is and turns to Damon.

"Go on in." Mason says.

Damon gives a look of distrust, typical, before saying back, "You first."

"What, you think I'm leading you into a trap?" Mason tries.

"Thought crossed my mind." He says sarcastically.

"Both of you are scared shitless babies. Grow up." Octavia told them before walking in, "Besides, haven't you heard of ladies first? You brought me for my incapability to die, right Damon?"

Both Mason and Damon follow after her with embarrassed eyes. They quickly shrugged it off though when they realised they both felt the same way on something.

"So, tell me, do you think Mikael is a good idea?" Damon asks.

His question floats in the air but Octavia knows it was drifted towards her. She made sure her steps didn't falter and that her voice was steady, "Honestly, no," She didn't know what he knew. Did he know that she was his daughter? No. Not daughter, stepdaughter. Did he know of the family connection Mikael shares with her and her blood family? She had to chose her words carefully. She knew he was reading her, not as closely as before, but he was curious to her reasoning, "A vampire that hunts vampires? I like my life and I am sure you value yours. He was created to hunt us and you are giving him a stake."

She hated her position. She was worried she was too Pro Klaus. But then she felt a little too Pro Scooby Gang. Damn her humanity. Pro Ripper kept whispering for her to turn it off and worry about herself only. Screw Klaus, he hurt you. Screw Damon and Stefan, Caroline, Bonnie, Tyler, Elena, even Jeremy and Matt, they doubt you. Help yourself. Pro Humanity was trying to shove Ripper her back into a closet but was slipping.

Amber. Think about Amber and how she helped her mother cook. Think about Amber and how she was taught to drive by her father. Think about Amber and how she taught her brother to do division on his math homework. Be Amber, you were her once upon a time, be her a bit longer.

Her brain kept whispering the words in her head but then she felt like she was dishonoring herself, she felt fake.

She was struggling.

Luckily Damon took this chance to speak, "Your right," He said following after Mason, but talking to Octavia, "But it's a risk I am willing to take."

Damon moves fast to catch up to Mason but Octavia doesn't want to be behind them so she speeds up to the very front. She can still hear them talking though.

"I'm still waiting for the other shoe to drop. Your motives are deceptively pure." Damon tells Mason.

"You talk the talk but I know you'll do anything for your brother. You won't screw me over as long as we have the same agenda." Mason pushes back. Damon moves a bit ahead but not too far.

"I'm supposed to believe you won't screw me over?" Damon says with a trace of humor.

Mason chuckles but Octavia rolls her eyes. "It's called trust, Damon. I feel as though I have said this over and over again in the last hour.

They walk a little further until a fork in the tunnel appears. "Alright. Which way?" Damon asks.

"I don't know. Flip a coin." Mason says.

"E-ne-me-ni-mi-ni-mo," Octavia starts singing before Damon interrupts her.

"Aren't you supposed to be all knowing?" Damon says unbelievingly.

"I'm a ghost," Mason begins, "Not God."

The flat tone in his voice and the joke itself has Octavia curled up in laughter. The boys look at her with a small smile before getting back on track.

"Go left." Mason guesses.

Octavia regains her composer and walks in first. Damon follows her but is slow to take in his surroundings, he looks back unamused but continues. Octavia can hear Mason say something to Damon but she tunes it out when she can hear to sound of wires and pulleys clicking into place. She turns and vampire speeds herself to where Damon was but before she can push him, huge stakes eject themselves from the walls. Damon and Octavia are front to front and grunting from the pain. They are so close that if it weren't life and death, Octavia would blush like a school girl. Damon tries to remove the stakes but they are coated with vervain. Octavia, weak from not feeding in a while, and from the vervain, can't even use her Original strength to free them. She settles down admitting defeat, but before she can realize what is happening, a belated stake comes out of nowhere. Because of Octavia's shortness, it hits her right in the heart. She temporarily dies.

She doesn't know it, but Damon worries for her. She may never know it.

She wakes up alone and she is immediately pissed. Octavia the realizes that now would be the perfect time to collect her thoughts, she was struggling and she had no one to go too. Once she feels better, she goes to find Damon, she does and realized her isn't alone.

"'Cause I need a non-vampire to get into the cave." She hears Damon say.

"Then I came for nothing." Octavia says to make her presence known.

Damon softly glares at her before turning back to Ric, "And other than Elena, your pretty much the only one I trust. Human wise." He says that last part for Octavia and she appreciates his thought.

"Well you have a crappy way of showing it." Alaric snaps softly.

"Look, if Mason Lockwood can get over the fact that I killed him,-" Damon starts before I interrupt.

"What is it with you an killing my family members!?" Octavia yells, half of her was serious and half of her was playing around.

"Couldn't you cut me a little slack?" Damon finishes.

"I shouldn't have to get over it! I was your friend, Damon. You shouldn't have done it in the first place." Alaric repremands.

"Well sometimes I do things I don't have to do." Damon decides to say.

Octavia turns to Damon in shock, "I knew your apology wasn't original! No pun intended."

Alaric smiles at her and turns to Damon a little lighter, "You're going to recycle that same crap ass apology you gave Mason Lockwood? And Octavia?"

Damon falters but continues nonetheless, "Yeah, well," He struggles but his signature smirk returns to his face, "I didn't mean it with him."

"What about me." Octavia asked with a challenge.

Alaric goes to inspect the hole to the cave tunnel and that gives Damon a chance to actually apologize, "Octavia, I am truly sorry for not trusting you, for doubting you, and for saying my eyes are prettier than yours behind your back," He pauses to watch Octavia smile and chuckle, "I should have thought about what you were going through, and I should have appreciated it more. I am sorry."

Octavia smiles and looks into his eyes, they are sincere, "I forgive you and everyone else." Octavia tells him.

The moment is over though when Alaric calls for their attention, "What is it?" Octavia hears Damon say.

"I have no idea." Alaric murmurs.

Octavia takes out her phone and uses the camera to see closer, she can see drawings done on the walls, she can't see them all only one in particular. It is a circle of specific names, her family's names. Written in her native tongue, her name is frozen next to Klaus'.

She is afraid. This can only mean one thing.

Ancient ancestors wrote down their history.

Being invalid is going to get harder, she can tell. She knew she was only going to struggle more and more too.

Struggle. That seems to be the only thing she can do recently.

Struggle.