DARK BEAUTY • The Vampire Diaries

3

Leila sits on the couch opposite her brother. Kai is tied to a chair and Damon is standing dramatically by the fireplace.

She watches as her older brother begins to wake up and Kieran enters the room, sitting beside her on the couch.

"You're awake, good. Now for the Q & A portion of the evening." Damon speaks up, holding a pack of pork rinds in one hand and a fire poker in the other.

"Let me guess," Kai sighs, "I answer right, I get a pork rind. Wrong, I get a poker."

Damon looks at the pork rinds, "What? No, no, no, these are for me. You just get the poker."

"Could I have a pork rind?" Leila smiles sweetly at Damon, who gives her a suspicious once over before handing her the packet.

"Yeah, you don't have to do that." Kai objects when the vampire's attention is back on him.

"No?"

"We're on the same team."

"Really?" Bonnie questions, standing from her chair, "Do you always try and kill your teammates?"

"The important thing is that you have your magic back." Kai admits, "It worked."

Damon, Bonnie and Kieran share a look and Kai notices a small smirk on his sister's face as he speaks up, "What, you..? You didn't really think I'd kill Damon, did you? In what universe does that make sense? I wouldn't kill one fifth of our population, especially in front of my sixteen year old sister - I'm not a monster."

Leila remains composed on the outside but the urge to laugh at his words are extremely strong.

"I knew Bonnie would show up, she always comes back - all thirteen times." Kai continues, "And I knew with the right motivation, she'd be able to access her magic. Although, I did get a little worried, with all your bickering, that Damon's life wouldn't be enough motivation. But turns out it was, I guess that's just how you two show your love."

That last comment is the last straw for Leila's composure and she bursts out laughing, causing Kai to curse under his breath. "Sorry, I can't do this anymore Kai - I've been dying for a laugh since the whole vervain situation went down at the store."

"Can't do what anymore?" Kieran questions the girl who simply bats her eyelashes at him with a flirty smile,
"Wouldn't you like to know."

"So, you did all that just to make sure I'd have my magic?" Bonnie questions Kai, while Damon ties Leila to a chair beside him.

"Of course I did," Kai answers, glancing at the ropes wrapped around his sisters wrists and waist, "Because your magic is the key to getting the hell out of here."
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The next day, Kai and Leila are sat beside each other, as they ramble about anything that they have done since being in the prison world.

"And of course, we broke into the Oval Office and took a picture of myself looking all JFK. But then I was like, wait, how are we gonna get these photos developed. And Leila took it upon herself to go and-"

"Oh my god," Damon groans, "Just answer the damn question. How are we gonna get out of this Twilight Zone?"

"I got a question for you first, why do you think we're stuck on a repeating loop of May 10th, 1994...doomed to relive a solar eclipse forever and ever and ever?"

"How the hell should I know?" Damon sips his bourbon.

"Well, I heard you tell Bonnie and Kieran this is your own personal hell."

"On multiple occasions actually." Leila buts in with a smirk.

"So, we're kinds of curious why."

Bonnie and Kieran enter the room, interrupting the conversation as they empty backpacks onto the table, "We found everything you asked for: can opener, shower drain, grinding wheel, jam, pocket knife, volume 0 of the encyclopaedia, peanut butter, a nail and a black marker. Now what?"