The exact location of the cave that held what you could call 'everyone's last hope' was still a little confusing to Stefan. Bonnie said she would go with them and when Stefan tried to stop her, she said that if they didn't let her go with them she wouldn't say where the cave was, which unfortunately left Stefan with no way out. He didn't want Bonnie involved in this. He didn't want to drag anyone else into all this, he feared something would go wrong and he'd have to watch all these innocent people die because of him, once again.
But he knew better than to go against Bonnie. So instead of arguing, he agreed, and hours later he was in the middle of the woods just outside Mystic Falls, following Bonnie, while Caroline, Stefan and Elena did the same. They had been walking around for approximately 30 minutes now. He could already tell Caroline was extremely tired, but when he asked her if she wanted to stop for a while, she simply shrugged and said "No way". She was so determined, Stefan thought. He admired that in her, too.
He still insisted to carry her bag for her, and he was way too stubborn for Caroline to say no, and she really was tired, so she handed him her bag anyway and continued the journey. Damon gave his brother another one of his knowing looks, and Stefan responded the way he always did: rolling his eyes and ignoring it.
"Bonnie, are we close?" Elena asked.
"I'd say we're twenty minutes away." Bonnie replied.
Caroline's eyes widened. "Twenty minutes?" She asked, her breath rapid. "Alright, I think I'm gonna have to stop for a little while."
Stefan grinned because he knew it was coming. Caroline was the kind of girl who liked to mask every trace of weakness and pretend she was oh so strong, but he looked right through her walls and knew she was just as fragile as the girl next door. Especially when she was, well, human.
She stopped, then, sitting on the floor, taking deep breaths. Stefan could listen to her quick heartbeat, and he realized she was, in fact, very tired, with drops of sweat falling down the sides of her face. He took out a water bottle from her bag and handed it to her.
"Thank you." She said, opening the bottle and drinking it so fast Stefan couldn't help but let out a giggle.
She noticed it, and looked at him with furrowed brows. "What? I'm human. I get tired."
He laughed. "I know, I'm sorry, it's just funny."
"Being a vampire must be really cool." Caroline said before taking one last sip of her water. "You don't get tired, you're strong, you're fast, you can hear things that are miles away, you don't get old and you're practically immortal. Not to mention the whole compulsion thing - that's probably the best part."
Stefan nodded. "Yeah, when you look at it that way... It is kind of cool." He said, the word ''cool'' feeling funny in his lips. He didn't use that kind of language. At least not before he met Caroline.
"What other way is there?" She questioned.
"Oh, I don't know... Probably the thirst for blood thing. The intensified feelings of guilt, pain, hate, anger. It can also get pretty lonely when you live for hundreds of year."
Caroline shrugged. "I still would accept all that if it meant I could get all the awesome parts of being a vampire."
"Being human is..." He fumbled for the right words. He had to make her understand. "You don't realize it at first, but after you become a vampire, being human is everything you want." He said, looking down.
"You're kidding, right? Humans are lame. Look at me! I can't defend myself, I've been walking for 30 minutes and my chest already feels like it's going to blow up. We spend years working our asses off for money and material stuff because if we don't we'll probably die of hunger or thirst or we won't have a place to live, literally every single thing can kill us in the blink of an eye, we get old and ugly and then suddenly we're dead. Humanity is way too overrated in your vampire world, Stefan."
"Does that mean you want to be a vampire, blondie?" Damon asked, making both Caroline and Stefan realize they weren't alone in the woods.
Caroline looked at Damon as if he had just asked a depressed and suicidal person if they wanted to jump off a bridge. So obvious, yet so unthinkable. "I don't know. I'm just saying that being a vampire is not as awful as Stefan makes it up to be."
"I agree." Elena said. "I didn't want to be a vampire at first, but now... I don't miss being human. Not even a little bit."
Stefan shook his head. He didn't want to be having that talk. He didn't like being a vampire, he would give anything to be human again, so why was Caroline saying all of that?
"I miss being a human. I can't exactly tell you why, but I just do. Sometimes. And then some weird ass original vampire tries to kill my brother and suddenly I thank God, or whoever the hell is out there, that I'm a powerful, strong, badass supernatural being." Damon said, and Stefan was surprised by his brother's confession. Damon was never the kind of guy to talk about his feelings so openly.
Elena liked being a vampire. Damon talked about his feelings. Apparently, things changed a lot around Mystic Falls since the day he left.
"Can we stop with the vampire talk, please?" Bonnie spoke up, breaking Stefan out of his thoughts. "Are you rested now, Caroline? Because we really need to keep going."
Caroline nodded and got up. "Yes, Bonnie. Let's go."
Bonnie resumed her walking and Caroline followed her. Stefan watched Caroline for a few seconds, still taken aback by her comments on vampires and humans. Stefan had been wishing for his humanity back for as long as he could remember. Caroline was human, and she saw it as nothing but a burden to be carried around. They had to disagree on something, after all.
Twenty minutes later, Stefan found himself staring at a big and quite boring cave. It had absolutely nothing special about it. It was dark, covered by trees and rocks, and if he didn't know a weapon made by a witch was located in there, he'd walk right past the cave, not even bothering to take a second look.
"This is it, then?" Caroline said, almost ironically. "I thought it would be more... magic. I don't know, like... with witch stuff."
Stefan laughed. "They can't exactly draw a lot of attention to the place where such a powerful weapon is hidden, can they?"
"Yeah. That makes sense." Caroline nodded.
"How are we sure this cave is really protected against supernatural beings?" Damon asked.
"I don't know." Bonnie shrugged.
"You don't know? Wow. Awesome." Damon walked over to the cave, about to enter it when suddenly he was thrown back with such strength, he hit a tree close to Elena, whose eyes widened.
"Oh my God, Damon, are you okay?" She crouched down next to him, while he got up, grunting.
"I am, yeah. Ouch." He touched his head. "Damn it, witches!" He yelled out, looking at the sky.
"Well, I guess that confirms it." Caroline said, about to burst into laughter.
Damon looked angrily at Caroline. "Yeah, I guess it does."
"Alright." Bonnie said. "You'll have to go in alone. I have no idea where the weapon is, so you'll have to look for it yourself. Everything you say will be heard by these vampires with super-hearing, which is good, but you won't hear anything."
"Okay. Can I go now?" Caroline asked, eager to get that task over with.
Bonnie nodded and Caroline smiled, walking over to Stefan to pick up her bag. He was having a hard time concealing his worry.
"Stefan, I'm gonna be fine." She said.
Stefan nodded. "I know. Just be careful, okay?"
"Come on, the only thing that can possibly attack me in there is a human, so I won't be in any disadvantage. I'll get the weapon, get back, and we'll go home."
The fact she said home made Stefan's features soften and his fear got washed away by her positiveness. He was at a loss of words, so he simply nodded and smiled, and then watched as Caroline entered the cave, praying that everything would go the way they planned.
The first thing Caroline saw when she entered the cave was light coming from a torch hanging from the right wall of the cave. She made a note to thank Bonnie later. She took the torch, following a somewhat dark path that led her to the subterranean part of the cave, and she started actually laughing because the situation she found herself in was like so many other she had seen in movies. It was ridiculous to think that Caroline Forbes was carrying a torch while searching a cave for a weapon that would put an original vampire to sleep. Oh, what had her life become?
She carefully stepped on the floor, avoiding any pointy rocks or loose steps. It wouldn't be such a fun idea to trip and fall over in the deep darkness of an abandoned cave.
She looked around the cave, trying to illuminate her surroundings enough so she could see every single detail. She squinted when she saw an old, grey box with black strips sitting in the middle of two big rocks. "I think I see something." She said.
As she got closer, things got clearer, and she realized that was, in fact, what she was looking for, judging by the fact the black strips were actually foreign writings. For a while, she didn't know if she should take the box with her or only the weapon, but she realized Bonnie would probably be able to read whatever was written in there, so she picked up the box carefully, waiting for a second to see if anything was going to happen. "I got it."
She was about to leave that part of the cave when everything around her started shaking, almost like an earthquake, and a gust of wind blew her torch out. How was there wind when she was freaking underground? There were so many things she still didn't understand. She'd have to ask Bonnie later. Her heartbeat started racing. "Uh, I think something's happening."
She couldn't see a thing in the dark but the shaking only got worse, so she decided to try and make her way back to the exit of the cave. She tripped once, twice, and she fell over on the third time. "Damn it." She said, getting up and retrieving the box. "Witches, I'm human! I really need your weapon thingy so please stop with all this shaking, I'm pretty sure I'm getting a bit claustrophobic in here! Even thought this cave is like, huge. But it's still very dark and frightening. Come on!" She yelled, knowing she probably sounded pathetic, but still not caring at all.
She successfully made her way out of the underground part of the cave, a breath of relief escaping her mouth when she could see the light of day outside.
Stefan finally saw Caroline leaving the cave, and he sighed, relief washing over him. For a moment, he got so worried he almost forgot he couldn't enter the cave, and he was ready to get in when he heard Caroline talking to the witches. That alone made him giggle and realize Caroline wasn't really in any danger.
"It's here." She said, showing the box to everyone. "Now this is what I meant by magic."
The box was old and grey, full of writings in black that made absolutely no sense to him. Bonnie got the box out of Caroline's hands, taking a quick look at the symbols and putting it inside her bag. "We shouldn't open it in here. Let's wait until we're back in Mystic Falls."
They all nodded, and Stefan caught Caroline's eyes. She smiled at him, her eyes reassuring him that yes, she was okay and that no, nothing bad happened. He was wrong, she was right.
He didn't mind being wrong when that meant Caroline was safe and sound. He didn't mind it at all.
Thank you for your reviews! I had to throw in a little Caroline pov in there, even though this was supposed to be a Stefan pov chapter. Hope you like it, and please don't forget to review! :)