Chapter Text
Standing at gunpoint. Hope. Josie. Lizzie. Face to face with that Triad asshole. Pointing that gun at them. None of them able to use their magic for some reason.
Damnit Penelope, think faster. The office has a second entrance. Hopefully the other door is not blocked by more of these Triads, Penelope thinks before moving to the second entrance on the right side of the office, unbeknownst to the guy pointing a gun at the three women chanting some stupid child rhyme.
Eenie meenie, my ass…, Penelope thinks while bursting into the office and immediately putting up a force field up to stop the bullet from reaching any of the girls.
"Penelope!" Lizzie and Hope shout in union pleasantly surprised to see the witch, who was supposed to be in Belgium.
"Hey, not to cut this lovely reunion short, but you need to get out of here" Penelope says motioning with her head behind her while keeping her focus on holding the barrier up. Josie is still just standing there watching Penelope, speechless to see the raven-haired witch less than two metres standing away from her. Quickly, Hope and Lizzie move towards the door behind Penelope. The Triad guy being stuck, unable to move, the bullet in the air not moving either, slowly succeeding to make it through the barrier that Penelope is holding up with all her power.
"Josie, come on" Lizzie urges her twin to move, who slowly seems to snap out of her trance and walks towards Penelope, rushing after her sister and Hope until she abruptly stops.
"We can't get let her stay behind" Josie says to which Hope and Lizzie stop too.
"No, it's alright. I'm right behind you guys. Now go, Josie!" Penelope replies. Josie shakes her head, not entirely convinced but seeing how much energy it cost her former girlfriend to produce the safety barrier, she knows she has to make a decision quickly. While moving past Penelope, she lightly touches her upper arm, hoping to convey so many things at the same time: gratitude for showing up and saving them; confusion for her sudden appearance; happiness emerging from getting the chance to see Penelope and be around her even if it possibly might be only for a short time; anxiety for Penelope’s safety.
"Lead them to the clearing, I'll meet you there!" Penelope shouts after Josie, feeling how the ongoing spell has taken a toll on her energy. Calming herself down she tries to collect her thoughts and clear her mind in order to use another spell, while simultaneously keeping the other spell intact when suddenly a few witches and vamps emerge behind the Triad man, momentarily stunning him and knocking him over. Without giving it much of a thought, Penelope sees her chance and takes it. The raven-haired witch runs.
At the clearing
"That was such a close call!" Lizzie moves frantically around.
Hope leans back against a tree, being miles away in her thoughts, coming up with a plan on what to do next, trying to find answers to some urging questions.
“I mean, did you know Penelope was back, Josie?” Lizzie stops her pacing in front of Josie, who is walking over to a fallen tree to sit down.
“Where is she? She should be here by now….No Lizzie, I obviously didn’t know, but luckily she did come back otherwise we’d be dead by now” Josie says with a shaking voice.
Suddenly, Hope turns her head to look at the forest, hearing some rustling of leaves and branches. Whoever is approaching is fast and will soon be there. So she moves into a more secure stance, ready to attack if necessary.
Josie and Lizzie turn their heads too as Penelope emerges from behind some trees. The witch is slightly out of breath. She opens her black leather jacket and inhaltes deeply.
Lizzie moves towards Penelope, stopping in front of her, seemingly unsure of herself.
“How do we know you are not one of the Triad guys disguised as Josies ex?” Lizzie asks.
Penelope rolls her eyes at the question and brushes over her legs, shaking off some leaves from her black pants, wincing as she notices a cut on her left thigh.
“Oh fuck off, Lizzie. How would I know about the clearing then?” Penelope pushes past a nodding Lizzie, who quickly responds:
“Yes, that makes sense.”
Hopes features visibly relax and upon hearing the snappy banter a small grin forms on her lips, she slouches back against the tree.
“You are injured!” Josie concerned looking points to her leg where blood drips from a mediocre deep cut.
“Don’t worry. Are you alright?” Penelope comfortingly answers and moves into a squatting position levelling to a sitting Josie to take in the brunette’s state, making sure herself that Josie is uninjured.
She looks dishevelled and shaken up, but is still the most beautiful woman I have ever seen, Penelope thinks.
Josie silently nods to answer the raven-haired witches question and takes her hands into her own.
Penelope turns to Hope and Lizzie: “You guys, too?”
Hope is the first to answer: “Yes, thank you for saving us. But how were you able to perform magic?”
“Yeah, and why are you here? Weren’t you supposed to be in Belgium?” Lizzie adds.
Penelope moves to stand from her position, but Josie’s grip on her hands tightens for a moment. At that Penelope sits down beside Josie on the fallen tree, three pairs of eyes focussed on her, expecting answers. She sighs.
“You’re right, I was in Belgium. Meeting up with your mum" she turns from Lizzie to Josie
"when suddenly she got a call hearing that the school was under attack. She tried to talk me out of it, but I accompanied her back to Salvatore boarding school with some black magic.”
She turns to Hope “Your aunt Freya is here, too.”
“Why were you with mum?” Josie asks alarmed.
“That’s a long story. Short version, even if we survive tonight, the merge is still going to happen” Penelope looks at her feet, defeated for not already having come up with a solution to save the twins.
“I still don’t get how you were able to perform magic” Hope continues trying to get answers.
“I have a necklace, that Caroline gave me beforehand, to be able to keep myself save while we’re on our missions in Europe” Penelope calmly answers. Lizzie, who has been pacing again after hearing about her mom coming all the way from Europe fully grasped how severe the situation had to be.
“What are we going to do now?” Lizzie asks frantically.
“The last I saw from the fight was that both sides have suffered tremendously. However, the school is getting help from outside. We just need to gain some time to let them arrive and take care of the situation. All we need to do is last long enough…" she stops, before worryingly continuing
"..but I have overheard something about targeting you guys specifically. Something about needing your tribid powers and the one of the Gemini coven” Lizzie and Josie share a look of pure horror.
“I’m just not sure which one of you they are after” the raven-haired witch quietly adds.
Having heard enough Hope states furiously: “Well, if they want a fight, they can have one.”
“No, we cannot run into the situation blindly” Josie interjects.
“Josie is right, we need….” Penelope starts, but gets interrupted by some noise from the forest. Male voices approaching quickly.
Thank you for reading! :)