Madness • The Vampire Diaries [1]

SIXTEEN

"How long?"

"Really long," Cora shares a look with her brother and they both nod in agreement. "Just listen, it gets better, huh, Ric?"

"Names. They're not native. They're written in Runic, a Viking script."

"Vikings?" Elena asks.

"This name here, I translated it and it reads Niklaus," Alaric points out the name for Elena and Cora's breath hitches.

"Klaus."

"And Elijah, and Rebekah."

"These are the names of the Original family," Cora states out loud.

"Carved into a cave that's been here since way before the founding of Mystic Falls. Or even the entire New World, for that matter," Alaric says.

"Okay, this has gotta be one of Klaus's fakes."

"That's what I said," Damon said from where he stood.

"That could be true, except the last name up here made us think otherwise," Alaric states.

"What's the name?"

"Mikael."

-

The group heads back to Alaric's apartment so they can look at all the photos he had took to examine them. Damon assist Elena with her combat training while Cora helps Alaric spread the photos out on his desk. She holds up one of the photos that has Elijah's name and she slightly sighs, wishing he were undaggered and not locked up in a box Klaus put him in. This whole journey of her gaining back her memories made her want to learn more about the years she had spent with Elijah; how did they meet, when did they get so close, what had happened, who compelled her to forget?

"These images tell a story," Alaric says as he looks at them. "To learn the story, you have to decipher these images."

"This could take days," Cora stops and slightly shrugs. "Well, you must know how to do it, right?"

"Sloppy," Damon comments as he effortlessly disarms Elena as she tried to stake him.

"Shut up! I'm new to this," Elena defends herself.

Cora playfully rolls her eyes at the two bantering and she sits on Alaric's desk chair, looking between all the photos.

""Ghost of Christmas Past" Mason Lockwood set up the cave and led us to a weapon that can kill Klaus," Damon says.

"Yeah, but doesn't Mikael have a weapon?"

"Yes. Which probably means the wall will lead us to Mikael, who we have already found and lost," Damon overwhelms Elena again. "Bang! You're dead!"

Elena pushes Damon away as he playfully goes to nibble at her neck. She walks over to the others who were by the desk, and stands next to Cora.

"These images at the very least might tell us what that weapon is," Alaric states.

"All we have to do is find out what they mean," Cora adds on and taps her fingers onto the desk.

"Fine! Fine! If I am being irritatingly optimistic like you two how do you suppose we do that?" Damon asks.

"Well, if the story is about the Original Family living here, then we go straight to the source."

Cora slightly pinches the bridge of her nose at the idea. A fool would only nit pick at an Original for information about their personal life, but she knew Rebekah wouldn't kill the doppelgänger. Elena leaves the apartment to meet Rebekah at cheer practice at the high school, and Damon gets ready to visit Stefan.