In Mystic Falls, Prison World.
Joe materialized in the woods near the town, his illusory body taking form. He surveyed his surroundings, taking stock of where he was. Behind him, the breach he had created into the prison world shimmered like a broken mirror, continuously feeding him magic from his mother's body.
"It seems everything worked out just fine," Joe smirked, seeing that the spell had been successful. He began checking his body, but found everything to be normal. The connection was intact, and his mind was firmly seated within this temporary form. Everything was completely normal.
"Alright, let's get to work," he muttered, as he started walking out of the forest.
---------------
Present, Mystic Falls.
Rebekah and Katherine watched Joe pass through the breach, their eyes lingering on the spot where he disappeared, hoping that their son was safe.
"Did it work?" Katherine asked Rebekah, finally tearing her gaze away from the portal.
Rebekah remained worried, despite everything.
"Rebekah, did it work?" Katherine asked again, louder this time.
"I don't know!" Rebekah snapped back to reality, shifting her gaze from the portal to Katherine.
Katherine tsked in frustration. She became thoughtful for a moment. "Then, how do you feel? Is something different?"
"I feel the same as I did a moment ago... nothing's changed."
"Then it should have worked if everything feels the same and nothing's changed." Katherine pondered. She looked at Silas as he continuously bled, pouring his blood and magic into the hexagram. "We only need to ensure Silas keeps channeling his magic and blood into the spell."
"Mhm..." Rebekah nodded. As she saw Katherine walking away, she yelled, "Where are you going?"
Katherine looked back over her shoulder. "To find those twelve humans that our son needs. Obviously."
"Make sure to stay in that little circle and don't move while I'm away."
"I'm not dumb, of course I won't leave the darn circle, bitch." Rebekah muttered angrily at Katherine's disappearing back. "Come back quickly, son." She pleaded worriedly.
------------------
Two days before, at some point.
Silas was aware of the Gemini Coven's existence and their magic. However, his only obstacle was his ignorance of their whereabouts. So, he did what he did best: he started digging around, finding witches, and delving into their minds. He gleaned information from some that led him to others who knew more, eventually directing his little quest to Portland, Oregon.
He stood at the entrance of a large, vacant plot of land, staring into the apparent nothingness. Yet, he smiled, for he could feel it; there was something there, concealed by a cloaking spell. He had found the hiding place of the Gemini Coven members.
He stepped onto the plot, reaching out to touch the boundary of the cloaking spell, and began chanting a spell of his own. "Ἀποκάλυψόν μοι," he intoned.
"Ἀποκάλυψόν μοι."
"Ἀποκάλυψόν μοι!" He repeated strongly, and the spell yielded, revealing what was hidden: a large residence in the field.
He smiled and started walking again once the veil was lifted.
"Who are you?" a man asked as he opened the front door of the residence.
"I'm someone with a great deal of motivation, looking for a way into a Prison World, and you're going to help me find it," Silas replied with a smile.
--------------------
Yesterday, at some point.
Dr. Josette finished her shift at Whitemore Hospital late in the day. Exhausted, she wanted nothing more than to go home and rest. She stopped by a store to buy dinner, and the next thing she knew, she was standing in her kitchen, a bag of groceries on the counter, and a pot of vegetables cooking on the stove. She looked around, disoriented, as she couldn't recall how she got there. One moment she was at the store, the next she was home cooking dinner. She knew something strange had happened with her.
She quickly turned off the stove and began to search her house, her heart pounding. Seeing no one and the front door closed, she rushed to her room and stripped, checking her body for any signs of unusual marks or feelings. Finding nothing, she sighed in relief. But then, her heart began to race like a deer caught in headlights. She reached for the one thing she'd kept close since she was seventeen, the thing that made her feel safe and in control. The thing that ensured no one could use it to get Kai out. Her twin brother couldn't get to her as long as she had it.
She frantically tore through her underwear drawer, tossing aside her undergarments. "No. No. No. No!" Josette muttered desperately as she emptied the drawer. She steadied herself, gripping the drawer tightly as she stared at the empty compartment. The 'Ascendant' was gone.
She trembled, anxiety and fear gripping her as she felt her body grow cold. She mechanically, with a lost look, went to her purse and searched through her contacts for one she hadn't used for a long time.
She called home.
---------------------------------
In Mystic Falls, Prison World.
Joe emerged from the woods to see the town laid out before him. He strode towards it, intending to procure a vehicle and leave in search of the cure. He was well aware of the location of Silas's tombstone and was confident in his ability to find it, though he knew the journey would take some time.
...
...
..
Standing in the town square of Mystic Falls, Joe's gaze fell upon the Mystic Grill. He crossed the street and walked through the entrance as he pushed open the door and took a seat at the bar, his eyes scanning around the empty place before falling on the newspaper resting on the counter.
"Mystic Falls Courier... today's weather, May 10, 1994, mostly sunny and mild," Joe muttered as he read from the weather column as he looked at the first page of the paper. 'So, this Prison World is set in 1994... that means... Malachai Parker, huh?'
"Dammit," he cursed under his breath.
'He would have preferred the 1903 version, where he could have found and enjoyed Damon and Stefan's mother. Oh...The things he would have done to her...'
'Still, how did Silas got hands on the 'Ascendant' that supposedly only Josette knew she had it?'
"Oh, never mind."
He shrugged and continued to peruse the newspaper, his eyes scanning the various headlines and articles:
Save money: more than $80 in coupons inside our living section.
Career zone: more than 500 local job opportunities.
Workplace: how women's roles influence our environment. A special report.
Deciphering technology: a cordless revolution. We've come a long way since Martin Cooper became the first man to make a call on a cell phone back in 1973. Technology is improving every day.
As of 1992, less than five percent of people in the U.S. had a subscription to a cell phone provider. But in the past two years, as the 1990s have progressed, cell phones have decreased in both size and cost—making them affordable for the general public. The newest models can even send words—much in the way that a pager can receive a message comprised of numbers that look like alphabet letters. "SMS text messaging" will soon be commonly available between two mobile phones, allowing users to use the numeric keypad to compose a brief message that, after being "sent" with the same button used to initiate a phone call, then appears as actual words on the screen readout of the receiving phone...
...
The very first cell phone, the Motorola DynaTAC 8000X, was held in research and development for nearly 10 years before it was introduced into consumer markets. Upon its introduction, it retailed for a whopping $3995. But as we look towards the Y2K millennium, expect prices and sizes to continue to shrink.
"Look at that, peak technology of the '90s... next step is the rise of the internet and Windows 95?" Joe chuckled, amused by the old news. They were really fun to read. "Oh man, I still remember using Windows 98 and Millennium that came in damn diskette in the Pentium 3. Luckily, after we had XP and CD-ROM, what a change. Oh man, I feel old even if I'm just a baby in the process of being formed." He sighed as he reminisced about the past.
SPECIAL REPORT: Rare solar eclipse expected to be seen across 12 states.
Today at approximately 12:28 EST, a solar eclipse will be taking place, and Mystic Falls citizens could not be more excited. This particular solar eclipse is a rare event for the entire United States to view, when most of the eclipses that have taken place over the years have only been visible in partial areas of the country. That means families from Oregon all the way to our sleepy town in Virginia will be able to experience the celestial event at the same hour.
Joe looked around for a clock but found none. He helped himself to an expensive-looking gold wristwatch from a nearby table. It was 12:20, meaning the solar eclipse would occur in eight minutes. He grabbed a bottle of bourbon from the shelves behind the bar and walked out of the Mystic Grill, newspaper tucked under his arm and bottle in hand.
Seating himself on a sidewalk table. "Mm..." he sighed, relaxedly in the chair. He took the bottle, uncorked it, and took a sip. "Good taste!" Joe praised after enjoying the flavour and the feeling of hot molten lava of the amber-colored liquid going down his throat as he reopened the newspaper. The eclipse was already beginning to appear, the moon passing directly between the Earth and the Sun, blocking the Sun's light.
He took advantage of the remaining sunlight to read more interesting news. As soon as the solar eclipse was over, he intended to leave the town.
.....
As he passed the time, he felt eyes on him. He looked up from the newspaper, scanning his surroundings, but found nothing. He smiled, taking another sip of bourbon before looking up at the sky. It was almost time for the total blockage of the sun.
"Come out, little mouse. Let's watch this darkness descend together." He called out, his voice echoing through the empty streets.
....
....
[Nothing.]
He waited for a while, but still, nothing.
"Alright, suit yourself." Joe shrugged, propping his feet up on the table as he sipped his bourbon, watching as the sun was fully blocked and darkness fell. It was an impressive sight to behold. He sat there for almost ten minutes in total darkness as the eclipse totality phase unfolded and the moon passed through. When it was done, he continued there, looking at the eclipse for a while more before there was light and continued reading the paper.
When the eclipse was finished, he stood up, stretching, and spotted a sleek Coupe Sports Car parked beside the grill—a Chevrolet Corvette.
'That'll do,' he thought, walking back into the grill to search for the keys. He found a set of Chevrolet keys and headed back outside, still feeling as if he was being watched after more than three hours passed.
"I'm leaving. If you want to come for a ride, now's the time. I won't be coming back here." Joe spoke loudly as he walked towards the car. The key slid easily into the door—a good sign. He smiled, opening the car and settling into the driver's seat. He adjusted the seat and rear-view mirror, and as he did, he felt someone get into the passenger seat.
"So, you came," he smirked, glancing at the young man now sitting beside him.
The young man looked at him with a neutral expression, curiosity and wariness hidden deep within his eyes. "Who are you?"
"That, my dear stalker, is a conversation for the road. Don't you think?" Joe started the car and released the handbrake, ready to leave Mystic Falls behind.
----------------------------
Joe kept his eyes on the road as the engine hummed under them. The Mystic Falls faded in the rearview mirror as they left the limit sign behind.
The young man didn't look away from him the whole time.
"You knew I was watching you," The young man said flatly.
"I did. You weren't subtle either."
"I wasn't trying to be." The young man tilted his head.
"Well, you are quite the stalker to be looking at me for three straight hours without stopping from the distance." Joe laughed. "Are you by any chance some weirdo, a voyeur?"
"Or maybe...some more extreme. A psycho or a killer, perhaps?"
The young man looked at him with a serious look compared to before.
"Who are you?" He asked again.
Joe tsked amusedly. "That's not the tone to ask a question, man. Besides, first you need to introduce yourself before asking someone their name."
The young man relaxed and even smiled as if his previous face wasn't his. "No. no. You are right. Sorry. Manners. I'm Kai. Nice to meet you. What do you call?"
"See? We have got a nice improvement in communication from just a moment ago, Kai." Joe looked at him with a smile on his lips. "I'm Joe."
"So, Kai. You have been watching me. Why?"
"You are the first living being I came across in this damn hell place. So sorry if I watched you, but you can see from my position that you are as rare as a panda to me."
"Oh, I see...I understand. Then it indeed should be normal to you if you put it like that. By the way, how much have you been here...in this place?"
"Can you just cut the crap?" Kai asked with an infuriating smile. "You've been sitting there the whole time since you appeared in town. As if you don't care where you were or what was happening." His tone sharpened. "That only means, you know what this place is."
"And that...can only mean that you are from the coven, as no one else would have known of this place."
"So. Who. are. You?"
Joe's lips curved faintly. "You're thorough. You should have been a detective instead of trying to be a coven leader."
"Or novelist." He laughed mockingly. "Either way would have worked better for you, don't you think?"
"That's not an answer."
"It wasn't meant to be." Joe looked at him sideways as he kept driving. Seeing his look of about to explode at any moment, he sighed. "I'm not from your Gemini Coven. As you should know by now, no one will come to rescue you, Kai."
Kai tilted his head. "If you are not from the coven, how did you find out about this place? And even more, how did you get inside here? and why?"
"Oh...But that is for you to find out, Kai. I can't just give you all the answers."
"This whole conversation and the wrong feeling I have been feeling since you showed up is making me nervous. And I don't get nervous. I make other people nervous."
"Do you?" Joe smiled faintly.
Kai's grin widened. "Oh, absolutely. I killed or stabbed quite a number of members of my family. I feel like that earns me at least mild discomfort points."
"That certainly earned you a few points, Kai." Joe shrugged. "Enough to be a scary motherfucking psychopath for killing four of your brothers and sisters because inside your little head you felt wronged."
"Have you now?" Kai's eyes sharpened a fraction. Hearing his answers as he knew of him, clearly.
"Well...not exactly, Kai." Joe mocked him. "If I were a normal person, maybe. But right now? Not so much. So, to answer your question. No, Kai, you are not so scary at all."
"I find you amusing even."
Kai studied him; there was no fear in Joe, no rush either. Just calm control, and that irritated him more than it should have.
"Then you should know, Joe," Kai spoke calmly as he looked at him with a dangerous glint in his eyes. Then quickly he extended his hand and took hold of his right arm. "That I'm a witch...But not any kind of witch."
"And given that you're here and seem to know so much about this place and me, it can only mean that you, too, are a witch." He finished his sentence as his hand began to glow, activating his siphoner powers and draining magic from Joe, only for his eyes to widen in shock.
Kai felt somewhat overwhelmed by the sheer volume of magic he was drawing and feeling from Joe, a sensation he had never experienced before. Nevertheless, he continued siphoning without issue. "So, pull this damn car over and start answering my questions, won't you? Before I drain you completely of your magic."
Joe didn't bother with him and kept driving, without stopping. What was more, he even pushed the accelerator even more. "I don't think so, Malachai. We have a busy schedule ahead of us," he calmly responded.
"And besides, you ask a lot of questions."
Kai knew he was right all along after hearing his name; he felt his anger about to explode, even though he was trying to keep calm. "Sisto," he chanted.
"Sisto!!!" He chanted again and the car stopped.
"What the fuck, Kai? I'm letting you take my magic, and this is how you thank me?" Joe looked at the stopped car and then with annoyance at Kai.
"You're not scared of me," Kai said, weirdly. "Even now, why are you not scared that I'm absorbing your magic?"
"Should I be?"
"I'm draining your fucking magic out of your body. Don't you feel pain or something?"
"Yeah, I can feel the magic leaving me." Joe nodded at him. Then he started laughing about something funny.
"Enough!" Kai yelled angrily and started inflicting a choking spell on Joe.
Joe felt what kind of spell he was making as he started experiencing a bit of asphyxia, even if his body was an illusory or fake one. When it gets to a point where fake is no different from real, you can still experience these things; he absorbed it before starting to mimic that he was still asphyxiating.
"You're going to tell me who you are and how I can get out of this place, right now! Before I kill you."
"Ugh. Ukh... Glu... Glugg..." Joe clutched at his neck, his face turning red for a moment before he could no longer contain himself. "Hahaha!" He threw his head back, laughing uproariously in Kai's face.
"H-How?!" Kai stammered, his eyes wide with surprise and disbelief as he saw that his spell had no effect on Joe.
"That shit doesn't scare me, Kai." Joe kept laughing. He reached out, grabbed Kai's arm, and it began to glow as he started siphoning the magic from Kai's body that he took from him in an instant. "Because I'm just like you, Kai. Only stronger. Can't you feel the overwhelming amount of magic coursing through me?"
"Hhh... hh... hhh..."
He snapped his finger, and Kai started asphyxiating now.
"Glu...Ukh.." Kai tried to breathe as he took hold of his throat while looking at him with open, wide eyes.
Joe then snapped his fingers again, and the car reignited. He took hold of the gearshift, put it in first gear, and pressed the accelerator. "Kai, I have a tight itinerary here, you see. Can't have you keep wasting my time. Our time. I have already wasted enough. So no more car stopping. Alright?"
Kai struggled, clutching his throat as he attempted to absorb the spell cast upon him, much like Joe had done. However, he found nothing. No matter how desperately he searched, he could not detect any trace of a spell working on his body. Despair began to grip him as he flailed even more urgently.
"If you understand that, then say yes."
"Hk... hk... hk..."
"Oh, I almost forgot u can't speak right now. Bad of me. Then, nod if you understand." He gave him a sideways smile.
"Grrrrrk!" Kai was going purple already as he nodded with all his strength while trying to mutter and breathe.
"See, Kai? This is a new progress in our communication. We are making great strides in the right direction once again." He chuckled and snapped his fingers again.
--------------------------
An unknown time later.
The boat cut across the dark water smoothly. Kai leaned against the edge, looking around at nothing but open space. After a moment, he frowned. "Okay," he said, glancing at Joe. "I'm officially bored and confused."
"Besides, where are we going?"
"Again with the questioning? Can't you, I don't know, just shut up for a while, Kai? You have been chirping this whole time like this since we left Mystic Falls for fucks sake."
"That's because I like answers. And more now than ever."
"You are the same as me. Why couldn't I absorb the spell compared to you, who absorbed mine?"
"Who knows?" Joe smiled playfully at him.
Kai tsked in frustration and irritation at his mocking face. "Have you come inside here to kill me?"
"Nope."
"Of course you not, if you were, you would have already tried to kill me. That was stupid." He smiled. 'Well, not that it would have worked, anyway...for that, you need first to get me out of here.'
"Yep. The question should be, how worth are you to still be alive, Kai? I know you can't die inside here, but I have a way, and you still can feel pain."
"What do you want from me?"
"Well, for once, you can be helpful in my endeavour now that I'm in this place. I was expecting to end in another prison world of your family, not this one with you, you see?"
"Now I need you to help me find the way to that one."
Kai listened attentively to his words. "I see...So you came by chance. Perfect."
"How do you expect me to find you this other prison? I haven't been precisely in contact with my family, you see?"
"Lucky for you, Kai. There should be some register or something left back at your coven place that should point to where the ascendant for the prison world of 1903 made by your coven is being stored."
"Right. What do I get from helping you find the ascendant to that place? Are you taking me with you or killing me?"
"We'll see, depending on how you behave. I have yet to decide."
----------------------------
"A damn island," Kai said as they disembarked from the boat at the beach.
Joe started walking and Kai followed in his steps.
"Come on, enough mystery. What are we doing here?"
Joe, instead of answering, asked him a question. "How did you find me so fast?"
"It wasn't hard when the whole damn world shook for a while as if the end of the world was coming. I thought the prison world was crumbling, that it was time for me to get out."
"Then I found a surge of enormous magic. Eventually, I found you."
Joe chuckled. "Alright. We are going to where the immortal Silas was resting."
"Silas?" Kai muttered as he brainstormed, and then he let out a short laugh. "You dragged me out here for a tomb?"
"You were the one who got into the car. You followed me."
Kai tilted his head. "And you wanted me to."
Joe didn't deny it.
.....
A while later, their footsteps echoed as they moved deeper inside the caverns.
Kai looked around. "What do you want to find here? Silas will not be here. In case you didn't notice, there's nobody here. Just me, Kai."
"I came for the cure to vampirism."
"Uhh-uh. Interesting." Kai mischievously asked. "For a lover? for family? Or perhaps for a friend?"
"Oh, for no one. I'm here to destroy it, to make sure it doesn't exist." He looked at Kai when he said it.
"Why bother?"
"Because I can. I don't like it to exist. That should be enough."
"Uuhuh...Scary, Joe."
They reached the stone coffin. Silas wasn't there, obviously, but the tombstone and the cure was.
Joe stepped closer to the coffin and grabbed the tombstone. His fingers hovered over the rock.
"Here." He said as he gave the tombstone to Kai.
Kai frowned as he looked at the rock. "What?"
"The stone is saturated with magic." Joe tilted his head slightly in amusement. "It contains the blood of Qetsiyah. The most powerful witch of her time."
Kai's expression shifted.
"Do you want to give it another try?" Joe glanced at him. "Maybe things work out in your favor this time."
Kai's neck veins throbbed at his clearly mocking provocation.
Joe snickered and grabbed the cure from the coffin and placed it inside his pocket.
Kai scrutinized the stone, attempting to absorb the magic within. Indeed, it was brimming with magic, but he sensed it would be useless against Joe. He sighed, quickly closed the gap between them, and hurled the tombstone at him.
"You don't want it?" Joe inquired calmly.
"For what? To give you an excuse to strangle me again?" Kai retorted.
"Smart. This time, I was wondering what it would feel like to... I don't know, melting your brains."
Kai shuddered at that. "You're more unnerving than I am, I'll give you that."
"I'm an angel compared to you." Joe rolled his eyes. "Now, do you know how to pilot a plane? We need to go to your home, Kai. Unfortunately for you, no one's going to be there to say 'Welcome home'."
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