Chapter Text
YOU CAN'T SAVE THEM ALL
JOSIE POV
I made my way over to the Salvatore house from the karaoke bar. When I arrived inside I heard the familiar whooshing sound of vamp speed, and someone being thrown towards the piano. When I walked into the living room my father and Jade were at a stand still, my father attempted to strike Jade with a sword, but she caught it. Neither one of them seemed to notice me, so I quietly approached behind Jade and entered her mind. I went back to the night she turned off her humanity, and turned it back on. Jade's grip on the sword loosens, she starts panting. "I'm so sorry." Jade apologies and I knock her out. My father looks down at Jade for a moment, then back up at me. When he sees my new appearance, he's both shocked and...scared, that's new. "Josie, what did you do?" My father asks quietly. "I fixed her." I simply reply. "Josie, your eyes are completely black, what happened?" My father continues to question. "I broke the sand clock." I turn to walk away. "Josie!" My father grabs my wrist and turns me to face him. "We need to talk about this, I need you to tell me exactly what happened." My father states firmly. "If I do that we may not make it to Lizzie in time." He's about to question me again when I raise my hand up to silence him. "I feel she's hurt through our bond, if we leave now we may make it to her in time, if we stand here and continue to talk then she may die. So, do you want to continue to talk, or do you want to find Lizzie?" I ask. "You know where she's is?" He asks. "No, but I'll be able to find her through our bond, follow me." I say as I turn and exit the Salvatore house followed by my father.
HOPE POV
I was having the strangest dream. These little girls were chanting a prophecy, something about a golden arrow finding a hero that takes flight, and then killing him I guess. Then a golden arrow appears in my hand, and when I look up Landon is sprawled on the stairs bleeding. Is this golden arrow the loophole to killing a phoenix? "Hope." I turn around and see Josie, only she looks different. Her hair is jet black, and her eyes...they're completely black. "We're not alone." I wake up with a jerk, I get ready quickly and burst into Landon's room. He get's startled, he drops the book he was reading and falls to the floor from his bed. "What the hell?" Landon stands up and sees me. "Hope? Don't you know how to knock?!" Landon exclaims.
"No time for that, Josie appeared to me in a dream." I say.
"Do I wanna know what Josie was doing in your dreams?"
"Remember when I told you about my bad feeling?" Landon nods his head yes. "Well, in my dream, Josie was...dark." Landon looks at me confused.
"Dark? What do you mean dark?"
"It looked as though she may have absorbed all the black magic from the sand clock, if she did and she survived, there's no telling what she's capable of, or what she'll do, what she'll be like." Landon rubs his temples.
"Ok, well, we don't know for sure if she's absorbed the black magic, for all we know it could just be a premonition, I mean witches get those sometimes right? She could still be ok, we just need to hurry up and get her and her family out of there."
"I still don't know how, if I could just talk to them, Dr. Saltzman would know what to do."
"That's not an option. You told me astral projection into a prison world is dangerous. Josie would not want you to risk it, and we can't be down another super squad member." I let out a sigh.
"Fine, but we need to hit the books again."
"Ok, just let me get ready and I'll meet you in Dr. Saltzman's office." I'm about to turn and walk out of his room when I remember something.
"Oh, Josie wasn't the only one in my dream, you were there too."
"Really?" Landon asks confused.
"Do you remember that prophecy, the one about a new hero rising..."
"And basically getting shot down by a golden arrow, yeah what about it?" Landon asks.
"In my dream you were hurt and I think it might have been because of the golden arrow. Dorian said that there is a golden arrow in the inventory of our stolen arsenal. It could be the one thing that could kill a phoenix."
"But I haven't even floated yet much less flown. I've been trying to activate any other phoenix powers I may have, but I've yet to figure out if I can do anything else other than rise from the dead."
"Well until the golden arrow is found try not to fly, or float."
"Will do." Landon lets out a heavy sigh. "I can't believe a golden arrow might be the one thing that could kill me. I kinda liked believing I couldn't die."
"Well, to quote Josie, 'Nothing lives forever, nature always creates a loophole to ensure that.'"
"When did Josie say that?" Landon asks.
"When I suggested we let you get possessed by the Oni and then stab you with the black magic sword." I answer, he's about to say something but doesn't, then I walk out of Landon's room and head to Alaric's office.
JOSIE POV
My father and I are walking on an empty road in Lizzie's direction, my father has attempted to question me further, but I've been focusing on my bond with Lizzie to try and find her. "What exactly did you do to Jade?" I remain quiet. "Josie talk to me." My father attempts again. "Lizzie's this way, I can feel her." I continue walking in Lizzie's direction. "Why did you break the sand clock?" I'm about to answer him, but I realize I don't know why I did. I turn to look at him when I answer. "I can't remember." I turn back and continue walking. "Well, are you ok? I mean are you in pain?" Such a stupid question. "No, for the first time in my life, everything feels clear. There." I point up ahead, where there is a crashed police car on the side of the road. "Lizzie." My father starts to run towards Lizzie. "Lizzie!" My father arrives at the police car, he opens the door and assesses Lizzie's injuries, once he safely gets her out of the car she informs him that she drank vampire blood, and to not let her die. He picks her up to carry her and informs her he's going to take her to the hospital. He rushes Lizzie to the hospital with me following behind him, once we make it there, he goes inside one of the operating rooms and places Lizzie on the operating table. "You're gonna be ok Lizzie. It's all right, it's all right." My father says trying to comfort Lizzie, I look down at Lizzie, the black magic inside of her via our connection is killing her. "The black magic is making her worse, she won't make it with it inside her." I tell him. "Well, Josie, can you do something, please?" My father practically begs. "I'll be unconscious for a little while, don't be scared." I grabbed my sister's arm and siphoned the black magic within her, as soon as I siphon it all out, we both passed out.
HOPE POV
I've been sitting in Alaric's office for over an hour trying to fix the ascendant Josie and Lizzie made, with no luck. Landon had been helping out, but stepped out for a short break. As I'm attempting to yet again put the ascendant back together I hear footsteps approaching, I look up and see Landon carrying a tray with tea. "Hey, what's all this?" I ask as he sets the tray down. "A flightless phoenix being useful." Landon picks up the tea pot and starts pouring some tea. "Any progress?" he asks. "No, Alyssa spelled it so every time I repair it, it just breaks again." I answer. "And you can't unspell it?" He asks. "No, no, there's gotta be something I'm overlooking." I comment.
"There is." I look up and see a bearded man in a suit walk in with Dorian. "Sorry, you have the wrong ascendant."
"Oh? Says who?" I ask.
"Fam, meet Joshua." Dorian introduces.
"Hello." Joshua greets.
"Old friend of Ric's, and drumroll please. He's also an expert on prison worlds. I told him about our problem." Dorian explains.
"Do you mind?" Joshua asks as he gestures towards the ascendants pieces, I nod my head yes, I'll take any help I can get at this point.
"Thank you so much." Joshua puts on a pair of glasses, and picks up an ascendant piece. "Wow, wow, wow, wow. It is in pieces." He brings the ascendant piece to his ear. "Oh, my, yeah." He gasps softly. "There's a linking spell on this. It produces a faint hum, like a melody." Joshua brings the piece to Landon's ear. "If you, if you know what to listen for." Joshua looks at Landon expectantly, Landon shakes his head no, he doesn't hear the melody. "You clearly don't." Joshua pulls the piece back from Landon's ear. "When the Saltzmans performed their spell on-on this ascendant, they were being tied to another. Hold this." Joshua hands back the piece to Landon, who hands it to me. "That witch of yours didn't send them to, you know, a new, empty prison world." Joshua picks up the teapot and pours himself some tea. "She sent them somewhere, somewhere far older and much more dangerous, and you're going to need my help to get them out." I don't say anything at first, the information Joshua just gave me sinking in, the message Josie said to me in my dream finally making sense.
"Would you excuse me for a second." I place the ascendant piece down and leave Alaric's office. I run to my room and start to breath heavily. The Saltzman's have been in danger this whole time, Josie has been in danger this whole time, and I've basically sat around and done nothing. After a minute I remember everything Josie told me when Lizzie would have an episode, I start breathing in and out until I feel myself calm down, once I do I start to gather things I'll need to astral project myself into the prison world. I hear footsteps approach my room, I turn to see it's Landon, I continue gathering supplies. "It's worse than we thought." I say to Landon.
"Yeah, Alyssa must have kept the original ascendant hidden, you know she's not just gonna hand it over." Landon notices me gathering supplies and putting them on the floor. "Uh, Hope, what are you doing?" He asks.
"I have to know if the Saltzman's are still alive, if Josie is still Josie, and the only way to do that is to astral project there." I answer.
"Hope, we talked about this. You might get lost and not find you way back, or you could get seriously hurt doing this. Either way if something bad happens to you and Josie finds out I did nothing to stop you, she'll be the one who shoots me down with a golden arrow." I turn around and face Landon.
"In my dream, Josie said to me, 'We're not alone.' Shortly after we got back together Josie told me about the ascendant she found in her dad's office during the Triad raid."
"Yeah, she mentioned it over the summer, thought it had something to do with the whole Merge thing, but I guess it didn't after all."
"Josie and Lizzie created the prison world Alyssa linked them to when they were kids. It holds their sociopathic uncle who killed their biological mother on her wedding day." Landon looks at me shocked.
"Jesus, so not only does her coven have some brutal rituals, but she comes from a history of psychos? Maybe it's a good thing she chose you over me." I shake my head at that.
"The point is I have to try. If they've been in danger this whole time and something happens because I couldn't find a way to save them..." There's a knock on my door, Dorian enters my room.
"Hey, sorry to intrude. Got some good news, so Joshua's doing some research for us. He said there's a rare flower that grows near the falls. The extract makes people tell you their deepest secrets. If we give that to Alyssa, we can get her to tell us where the ascendant is. Landon, you come with me."
"Yeah." Landon walks in front of me.
"Ok, contact them make sure their ok, I'll go with Dorian so we can get Alyssa to tell us where she hid the ascendant. We're getting them back tonight." Landon states.
"You bet we are."
JOSIE POV
I'm not sure how long I was passed out for, but when I wake I quickly stand, I see Jade in front of me, she must have helped my father with Lizzie. "Hello again." I greet Jade. "What happened to you?" She asks me. "She did something dangerous with black magic, and now she can't recall why." My father answers with a slightly judgmental tone, I turn to him. "I'd tone down on the judgement if I were you. Like everything you have done, I must have had a reason." I turn back to Jade. "But it's blank, there's something missing from my memory, or someone." I say to Jade, as I walk closer to her, wondering if something is missing from her memory too. "Uh, same. I don't know what this is." Jade pulls out a folded piece of paper from her back pocket and hands it to me. "But I found it in my pocket." I open the folded piece of paper, it says, 'Thanks for all the sex -Kai.' I show the paper to my father and he reads over it. "Who's Kai?" He asks. "The person who's missing from our memory. There's a spell affecting my mind." I close my eyes to concentrate. "I've felt it before." I open my eyes after a moment when I realize why this mind wiping spell is so familiar to me. "Malivore." My father looks over at Jade. "You might want to grab a seat Jade." He goes over to the corner of the room and sits down. "Why?" Jade asks. "Trust me." My father says, when I turn around Jade is inside the operating room leaning against the wall. "Harae-tamai kioku yomigaerashi-tamai." Once I cast the spell we all pass out.
"In order to use that sand clock, you have to break it, and when you get hit with all that black magic, if it doesn't kill you, it's gonna turn you into something dark and evil. But, you'll also be powerful enough to make your own door out of here, so, what a predicament right? To save daddy, to get yourself home, you have to become a monster, like me. The only catch is, you won't remember I told you any of this, because you won't remember me at all." I wake up and immediately stand, more memories of Kai flowing through my mind. Once I remembered everything I looked around the room. Jade, Lizzie, and my father were still passed out, I was the first to awaken from the spell. I let out a sigh and levitate them, I walk back to the Salvatore house with them floating behind me. Once I arrive I place Jade in a room with Diego and Wendy, Lizzie in one of the upstairs bedrooms, and my father on the living room couch. I turn towards the book shelf across the room, and feel myself drawn to one book in particular. I reach my hand out and the book floats straight to my hand, I look through it, finding a spell that could possibly get us out of this prison world, at the same time my father wakes.
"Where's Lizzie?" He asks.
"Sleeping upstairs." I reply.
"Kai" He says angrily as he stands beside me.
"Try to control your emotions. I remember what Kai said, there's still a way for us to get out. This whole place is just another spell, it's made of magic, magic can be siphoned. I can make holes in this world, doors." I explain to him, as I do we hear footsteps approaching. Jade appears, with Diego and Wendy behind her.
"So, does this mean you can get us back into the real world?" Jade asks. There is tension between Diego and my father. "It's alright, I talked to them." Jade explains.
"We just want to go home." Wendy says.
"Well, we can't all go. The magic I siphon here can't travel to the real world. The energy needs to go somewhere, which means someone needs to stay behind to be the anchor, so feel free to discuss who should be left behind." I explain.
"No, we're not leaving anyone here. We're all getting back." I suddenly feel a presence in the room.
"Shh, someone's coming." I turn around and Hope appears.
"Josie?" Hope says.
"Hello." I greet, when no one else speaks up I turn and notice no one else can see Hope, no one but me. I turn back to face Hope. "Only I can see you." Hope takes a step towards me.
"Oh my god, the sand clock, it broke didn't it?" Hope is about to reach for my face, when she realizes she won't actually be able to touch me, she retracts her hand.
"Something like that." I respond.
"Honey, who are you talking to?" My father asks.
"Hope, she's astral projecting."
"Listen, you have to warn her about Kai."
"Why? What happened?" Hope asks.
"Kai went into the Malivore pit, and we think he's trying to get to the real world." I explain.
"Actually, I think he's already here, pretending to be someone else." I turn to my father.
"Kai's already at the school."
"Oh, Hope listen to me, Kai's incredibly dangerous. You have to get him away from the school now."
"Wait, Kai's acting like he's going to help me get you out, what if I actually get him to do that and then kill him afterwards?" Hope voices.
"No, he's cunning. He'll figure out you're trying to play him, trust me. Just do as my father says and get him away from the school, I can get us out of the prison world."
"Really?" She asks hopeful.
"Yes, I already found a spell to get us out."
"Ok then. I'll get Kai away from the school. I love you."
"Bye Hope, good luck." I wave my hand and make Hope's astral projection disappear. I turn to face my father.
"Still want to contemplate another way for us to get out of here?" I ask. He lets out a heavy sigh.
"Fine, we do the spell and I'll stay behind. You were all my students once, it has to be me."
"Glad we finally got that settled." I open the book again and read through the spell.
HOPE POV
When I make it back to the real world I'm slightly disoriented. When everything comes into focus I realize Josie is no longer my Josie. The Josie I just saw was basically an emotionless void, she had no love for me in her eyes, she couldn't even say it back when I told her I loved her. "How'd all that go?" I turn around and see Joshua, no Kai, in my room. "It didn't, I couldn't reach them." Kai starts walking around my room looking for something. "Did you need something?" Kai starts sniffing deeply around my room. "It's not you, it's not me." Kai goes towards Alyssa's bed. "Excuse me?" I ask as I stand. "No." Kai continues to sniff around Alyssa's bed, until he comes across her stuffed elephant and takes another deep sniff. "Yes, there it is." Kai picks up the stuffed elephant as he chuckles. "Oh, why is it always stuffed animals?" Kai rips off the head and takes out the ascendant. "It's the weirdest thing." I look at him confused. "How did you know?" I ask. "Oh, Alyssa Chang just needed a, uh, a compassionate ear to bend." Kai takes out his glasses, which I'm sure he doesn't actually need, and puts them on to inspect the ascendant. "Hey, I'm sorry to, uh, stick my nose in, but she really doesn't like you people. Anyhoo, now all you need is something that has the equivalent power of a celestial event. Do you have any ideas?" He asks. "I do, but we have to go off campus to get it." He looks at me suspiciously for a moment, and I start to worry. "Who doesn't love a field trip?" Kai asks.
I lead Kai off campus to a storage facility we hardly use. "Huh, that smells old. Wow, wow, wow. This doesn't seem like much of a spot for a powerful magical artifact." Kai comments. "Neither does a stuffed elephant." Kai chuckles at that. "That's very good." Kai compliments. "Dr. Saltzman hid what we need in one of these crates, so look for the Salvatore logo." I lie, Kai heads towards one of the crates and opens it, I head for one opposite of him and remove a broken piece from the top. "It's a good thing there's not like 400 crates in here. Eeny, meeny, miny, crate. When you say Salvatore logo, you mean like, that thing with the "S" and the squiggle?" I throw the piece of wood towards Kai while his back is turned to me, but he stops it and places it down as he turns to face me. "And so it begins." Kai vamp speeds towards me, but I make a shield of magic that pushes him back on the ground. "Icaeus." A crate heads for Kai, but he raises his hand and uses magic to shatter it to pieces. "Nice try." He says as he stands. I run to him, jump, then punch him square in the face. Then I leg swipe him and he falls to the ground, when I stand over him I realize that was too easy. "You could have blocked that." I say.
"Yeah, you're right. I-I just wanted you to think you were doing a good job." Kai chuckles.
"You're not trying to beat me." I realize.
"Oh, no, no. Not for a few more minutes. Because right now, Alyssa Chang is performing a spell that will sever my connection to the prison world, and since that place was created for me, once she's done..."
"The world will disappear, along with everyone inside of it."
"Oops." I extend my hand and push Kai back into one of the beams, then wrap a chain around him.
"Thanks so much for the villain monologue, I'll deal with you later." I turn to walk away, but Kai speaks up, stopping me in my track.
"Hey, before you go rushing off, there's something you should probably know. I compelled what's-his name, who's with, uh, you know, your boyfriend, curly hair? Lando, there it is. That's thanks to you. As we sit here chatting, they're headed east, away from the school, into the woods, walking into the path of a golden arrow. I guess we'll find out if that prophecy's really true, and the best part, you'll never make it to both places in time, you won't be able to save them all. So, you, uh have a little choice to make, who's it gonna be?" I walk closer to him until I'm face to face with him.
"You know what, on second thought, I think I'll let the Saltzman's deal with you when they get back."
"Wow, seriously? You're picking them over your boyfriend? That's-that's kinda harsh. Besides they won't remember me, I jumped into the Malivore pit to escape the prison world." Kai says proudly.
"I know, Josie told me." Kai looks at me confused. "Yeah, she remembers you, they all do. You're not the first to jump into the pit. Josie brought back everyone's memories of you, and she found a way out of the prison world without having to dive into Malivore."
"What about your boyfriend? Don't you think you'll regret choosing them over him?"
"No, I'm sure he'll be fine. Besides, he's not my boyfriend, so no regrets." Kai stair at me for a moment before letting out a gasp.
"You're dating one of the twins! Which one is it? Josie? Lizzie? Both?" Kai wiggles his eyebrows and I look at him with disgust.
"Enjoy what little time you have let, because when the Saltzman's get out, you'll cease to exist." I say to him as I turn around and walk out of the storage facility.
JOSIE POV
Once I had gone over the spell, we gathered everything we would need to get out of the prison world. We went out into the woods, once we were deep enough inside I stopped and turned to look at everyone. "We need to work together. Place the spires in a circle to create a boundary spell. As I begin to siphon, doors will open beneath them, each door can only transport one person. Once I begin the spell I can't stop until it's done. So, when you see the door, you have to go." I explain, once I do I sit on the ground with the book in front of me, as everyone else forms a circle around me. I take a knife out and cut my hand open, I let the blood drip over the book, then I place my hands on the ground and begin to siphon. The ground below me and the spires begin to glow, the doors outside the prison world begin to open. I hear Lizzie in the background begging our father to come with us, apologizing. He tells her he's going to be fine, that she has to go in case Hope is unable to stop Kai, and that he knows we'll find another way to get him out. Only we won't, once the spell is complete, this world will become unstable and basically be destroyed, I probably should have mentioned that before, oh well too late now.
HOPE POV
Once I leave Kai I run back to the school. When the school finally comes into view I see flashing lights inside, Alyssa must have already started the spell. I run inside the school and find her. "Don't." Just as I run up to her I get pushed back by a barrier spell. "You really are a basic witch." Alyssa says as she holds a knife over the ascendant. "Alyssa please." I beg her. "I don't want them back, not now not ever." She states firmly. "If you finish that spell, you'll kill them all." I say to her and she wavers. "He didn't say anything about that." Alyssa contemplates what I just told her. "Well think about, if you sever the connection, the prison world collapses everyone in it will die. Look, I know that you're angry, and I know that you want to hurt them, but you're not a murder. Trust me, you don't want to be responsible for someone's death. It stays with you, you carry it forever." I tell her. "I know." Alyssa puts the knife down, and we hear a clicking sound come from the ascendant. "That isn't me." Alyssa says as she stands.
The clicking continues for a minute before the ascendant unlocks and a flash of light appears, revealing a girl I briefly noticed during my trip to the prison world. She's on the floor looking at her surroundings, then she spots me. "Holy crap, it worked." Josie must be doing the spell now to get everyone out of the prison world. There is another flash of light, and a blonde girl appears, but it's not Lizzie. Come on Josie, where are you?
JOSIE POV
Lizzie had finally jumped through the door, the only one left besides me was Diego, but I guess he couldn't let go of his grudge because shortly after Lizzie went through the door, Diego tackled my father. He was about to kill him when Sebastian vamp sped behind him and broke his neck. He and my father talked about second chances and Lizzie, then Sebastian pushed him to the door, he came up to me and kneeled beside me. "So, how exactly do we do this?" He asks. "You touch me and become the anchor." I reply. "Ok, um, can you tell your sister something a better man would say?" I nod my head yes. He places his hand on my back, there's a flash of light. Sebastian lets out a grunt followed by a scream, when the light disappears I find myself on the floor of the Salvatore school. "Josie?" I hear Hope call out to me. I stand up and slowly turn towards Hope's voice. "You're back." Hope rushes towards me and holds me tight, then she pulls away slightly and crashes our lips together, after a minute she pulls away and leans her forehead against mine. "You're back." She repeats. Lizzie and my dad approach us and hug us both. Hope pulls away from me.
"Landon's in trouble." I nod my head in acknowledgement and we both run outside.
"What happened?" I ask.
"Don't be mad, your uncle made me choose between saving you, or saving Landon. Apparently he compelled Dorian to lead him to get shot by a golden arrow, which may or may not be able to kill him permanently. As you can see I chose you." Hope and I look at each other.
"I'm sure he'll be fine, if he's with Dorian he'll do whatever it takes to make sure Landon doesn't get hurt." Hope nods in agreement. We look out into the woods for any sign of Landon, but see none. Sudden I hear a flapping noise, when I look up I see Landon with fire wings flying towards us with Dorian in his arms. "Uh, Hope, since when can Landon fly?"
"What?" I point towards the sky, she looks up and sees Landon too. "Whoa." Landon lands in front of us and places an injured Dorian on the ground. My dad comes out of the school and as soon as he sees Dorian he rushes towards him.
"Dorian, hey, it's gonna be ok buddy. Just hang in there, hang in there." My dad says to Dorian. When Landon's fire wings disappear he approaches me and hugs me.
"It's so good to have you back." He says.
"It's good to be back. Looks like I got here in time to see you fly."
"Yeah, that just literally happened." Landon and I pull away from each other.
"Well, I'm sure with a little bit of practice it'll happen more often." Landon smiles at that, and I turn to Hope. "Where's my uncle?" I ask Hope.
"I left him at the storage facility."
"Hey, Josie can you get the prison world kids to the old mill and put a barrier around it, just until I figure out what to do with them." My dad asks as he carries Dorian in his arms.
"Can Hope do it, I'm pretty spent from the spell I just did."
"Ah, yes, of course sorry." My dad turns to Hope. "Hope can you..."
"Yeah." Hope turns to me. "Meet you back in your room?"
"Yeah." Hope kisses me and goes inside to get Jade and the others, I follow behind her and go straight to Lizzie, she's holding to the ascendant. I place my hand on her shoulder to get her attention.
"Josie, will you help me with something?"
"Anything."
"Help me astral project myself to the prison world to talk with Sebastian."
"Sure, but not here, let's go to our room." I tell Lizzie. We head straight to our room and close the door. "You have to be quick, the spell I did to get us out is making the prison world unstable, so say what you have to say to him and get out." Lizzie nods her head in acknowledgment. We sit on the floor and hold hands with the ascendant in the middle of us, Lizzie channels from me and astral projects herself to the prison world, she's there for a couple of minutes before she's back. We look down at the ascendant, we hear a rapid clicking sound before a piece of it opens up and a small puff of smokes appears, neither of us say anything, but we know that means the prison world is completely destroyed. I look up at my sister, she has a heartbroken expression on her face, I grab hold of both of her hands. "Hey." Lizzie looks up at me. "I don't know much about Sebastian, or your relationship with him, what I do know is he saved dad and he cared deeply for you." Lizzie gives me a small smile.
"Thanks." Lizzie picks up the ascendant and places it on the bed, she's about to lay down when I stop her.
"Before you do that, there's something we need to take care of, it might even make you feel better, if only for a little while."
"What?" I quickly explain everything to her and she agrees. We leave our room, pick up some supplies, and go to the storage facility where Hope placed Kai. When we arrive he's trying to break free from his chains, until he look up and spots us.
"Hey, you managed to survive that wave of black magic, and you got out of the prison world. I'd uh clap for you, but I'm chained up." Kai looks over at Lizzie. "You must be Lizzie, I'm your dear uncle Kai."
"This is our sociopathic uncle?" Lizzie questions.
"Yep." I answer
"He looks more like a man child, with a beard." Kai laughs at that.
"Oh, Lizzie, you're so funny. You get that from me you know." Lizzie furrows her brows at that. "Now, would you two be so kind as to break my chains?" Kai asks.
"After everything you've done, I don't think so crazy." Lizzie says.
"Are you mad about your mother too, I already explained to Josie, I was trying to kill the two of you." Lizzie quirks her eyebrow at that. "Right, probably not helping my situation. Alright, how about I make you a deal. You let me go, and I'll tell you everything you need to know about the merge." Lizzie scoffs at that.
"Yeah right, you'll probably just tell us a twisted version of the truth. We're here for one reason and one reason only." Lizzie takes hold of my hand.
"Oh yeah? And what's that?" Kai asks. A knife appears above us and Kai scoff as that. "What? You plan on killing me with a knife? You two are going to have to do better than that." We use magic to stab Kai with the knife, he yells out in pain, and there is a faint sound of burning flesh.
"That's why we soaked it in vervain." I say to him. We stab him again and again four more times, after the fourth time he starts to laugh.
"This-this is pure poetry. This is how I killed your mom." Kai continues to laugh, Lizzie and I look at each other and back at Kai. We remove the knife from his stomach and cut his head off with it.
"You think dad will be mad at us?" Lizzie asks.
"I think he'll be more mad that we took his chance to kill Kai." I tell her.
"Oh well he had his chance. Let's go, I'm sure Hope is done with the barrier spell by now." We link our arms together and head back to our room, just as we arrive at our door, so does Hope.
"Hey, are you guys just getting here?" Hope asks.
"Yeah." Lizzie and I answer at the same time. Then Lizzie unlinks her arm from mine and pushes me slightly towards Hope, I look at her confused.
"You know you wanna spend some alone time with her, and I know she wants to spend alone time with you. Go, I'll be fine."
"Are you sure?" I ask Lizzie.
"Yeah, I'll be alright. I promise." I hug Lizzie and take Hope's hand.
HOPE POV
Josie and I left Lizzie and walked hand in hand towards my room. When we finally make it inside I push Josie against the door and kiss her fiercely, when I find myself needing to catch my break I remember what Jade told me about Lizzie. "Hey, before I forget, Jade told me to tell you that Lizzie should take it easy for the next day or two, and she shouldn't do any heavy lifting." I say out of breath. "That shouldn't be too hard, I mean it is Lizzie we're talking about." Josie and I laugh at that, and we kiss again. I lift her up and she wraps her legs around my waist, I lead her towards my bed and gently place her on top without breaking our kiss. When breathing becomes a necessity again I take this time to look down at Josie, she looks up at me curiously.
"What?" She asks.
"I'm just glad to have you back, and not just physically." I answer.
"What do you mean?"
"When I astral projected myself into the prison world and saw you...it was like you were a vampire with your humanity switch turned off. You didn't look at me the way you're looking at me now." Josie places a hand on my cheek.
"I'm sorry." Josie apologizes.
"No more black magic Josie, ever. I don't want that to ever happen to you again."
"I promise Hope, no more black magic." Josie kisses me, and with a wave of my hand I flip the lights off. We spend half the night making love to each other, afterwards Josie fell asleep in my arms with her head resting on my chest. I breathed her in, nothing made me happier than having my epic love asleep in my arms.
END