Legacy 203: Dragon Tale

Part 5

Xxx

A little while after Penny had left the apartment, Julian was pacing up and down the hallway in front of Payton's bedroom, unsure of what he was supposed to say. He hadn't grown up with siblings and Elizabeth had never shown him any form of affection. He wasn't sure how to function within a normal family or to act as a big brother. All of this just made him uncomfortable. He was about to leave the hallway when Noah came walking up to him.

"Everything alright?" Noah asked.

"No." Julian replied. "I can't talk to her. You're a Whitelighter, you take care of it. Isn't that what you're supposed to do?"

"Whitelighters are supposed to guide." Noah said. "Not to take over when things get complicated. What are you scared of?"

"I'm not scared." Julian snapped at him. "I'm not the brotherly type."

"Well, do you want to be?" Noah asked. "Your sisters want you to be part of their lives."

"We're all adults." Julian said. "Isn't is too late for that?"

"I don't think so." Noah replied. "Look at Paige, she was an adult when she discovered her sisters and they formed a great bond. It's never too late if you want to form a relationship."

"I…" Julian said hesitantly. "It's not that I don't want it. There are just things that I can't share yet."

"That's alright." Noah replied. "Just take it one step at a time."

"I'll try." Julian said.

"Just be yourself." Noah noted. "I'll go form a plan with Sheng Li and Mei Ling to fight the warlocks. You can join us when you're both ready."

Noah left the hallway and Julian took a deep breath before walking up to Payton's door. He did want to get to know his sisters and his cousins, to have something that resembled a normal family. The thing holding him back was the darkness he felt inside. Would his family ever forgive him if they knew the truth about what had happened? Perhaps this was the first step to finding out. He knocked on the door and waited a moment before heading in.

Payton was lying on her bed, staring at the ceiling with tears in her eyes. Julian uncomfortably waited for her to say something, though it was quickly obvious that it was still his move.

"Can we talk?" Julian asked.

"About what?" Payton replied.

"I don't know, anything." Julian said.

"Alright, where have you been all these months?" Payton asked as she sat up and looked at him. "Why did you leave?"

"I had to get away because of the bounty hunters." Julian said. "You needed time to heal and I didn't want to put you in unnecessary danger."

"But what about you?" Payton asked. "You lost a sister too, and someone close to your heart. We could have healed together."

"Honestly, I couldn't." Julian admitted. "I wasn't ready for that."

"What about now?" Payton asked. "Would you have come back if the Dragon Warlocks hadn't shown up? Or would you have stayed away?"

"The Zen Master talks about the path a lot." Julian replied. "It's like metaphor for destiny or something. It brought me back here for a reason, I think, so I'm not fighting it anymore."

"Destiny." Payton noted with an eye roll. "So it's destiny that we're all risking our lives again."

"Is that what you're upset about?" Julian asked. "The premonition of me getting killed?"

"No, I mean, yes of course." Payton replied. "But not the way you think. I understand that we're witches and that we're fighting for the greater good. Prue gave her life for that, so I have to honor it. I was afraid of you dying without me ever getting to know you. Did you realize that this is the first real one-on-one conversation we ever had?"

"I hadn't realized." Julian said. "I'm sorry."

"I want you to be in our lives, Julian." Payton said. "We're family."

"I want that as well." Julian admitted. "But there are parts of me that I still have to figure out, parts that are bad and potentially dangerous."

"What do you mean?" Payton asked. "Are you talking about the bounty hunters or did something else happen?"

"I can't talk about it yet." Julian said. "I have to figure it out first."

"Alright." Payton said. "I'll respect that, just know that we're here for you."

"Same." Julian replied. "You're quite mature for your age, it makes me wonder who is supposed to be the eldest here."

"I often wonder the same thing with Penny." Payton noted with a smile.

"Yeah, I think she really hates me now." Julian said.

"She doesn't." Payton corrected him. "That's just her way of dealing with things. You're actually pretty similar."

"That's troubling." Julian remarked.

"Exactly." Payton agreed.

"So we should get back to the living room and help figure out a plan." Julian said. "I'm sure the others could use our help."

"Alright." Payton said. "On one condition."

"What is it?" Julian asked.

"Promise me that you won't disappear again when all of this over." Payton said.

"I promise I won't just disappear." Julian replied.

"Good." Payton said proudly. "Then let's find a way to stop my premonition."

Payton got up and left the bedroom, leaving Julian to reflect on what just happened. Did he actually just have a real conversation with his little sister? She was much more insightful than he had thought, as he had underestimated her due to her age. Maybe it was possible to build some kind of relationship in the future, though he could never risk her getting hurt by his inner darkness. He needed to finally confront his fear and figure out what happened.

Xxx

A few miles away, Penny was sitting in an interrogation room at the police station. She had been given a cup of coffee while she waited for inspector Morris. As she looked at the mirror in front of her, she wondered if the inspector was looking at her from the other side. She cleared her mind and focused on picking up a telepathic signal, but she sensed nothing. She turned to the camera in the corner and winked in case she was being recorded. A few moments later, the door opened and inspector Morris came in.

"Thank you for coming in so soon." Morris said.

"It didn't sound like I had much of a choice." Penny replied.

"Sorry about that." Morris said. "I can get a little intense when I'm on a case, especially one as strange as this."

"Strange how?" Penny asked.

"A seemingly harmless shopkeeper is burned to death, but there is no evidence as to how the fire started." Morris noted. "We have yet to find a suspect, but I do have several strangers at the crime scene without an explanation."

"I already told you, I was just shopping in the neighborhood." Penny said.

"And you didn't see anyone come in or leave?" Morris asked.

"No." Penny replied.

"I see." Morris noted. "I was attacked at the crime scene by two men. I had the sketch artist draw their faces and I was wondering if they look familiar to you."

Morris opened a folder and placed two drawings on the table. One was clearly Julian while the other was Sheng Li, though he was less recognizable in the drawing. Penny looked at Julian's sketch for a moment too long, which she quickly realized was a mistake. She looked at Morris and noticed a hint of suspicion in his eyes.

"Either of them look familiar?" Morris asked.

"No, I'm sorry." Penny said. "I've never seen them before."

"I see." Morris replied with disappointment in his voice. "You're a good liar, Miss Halliwell, but not that good. I know you're hiding something, I just don't know why. Are you protecting someone?"

"I don't know what you're talking about." Penny lied.

"I think you do." Morris said. "When I heard your name, I knew it sounded familiar, so I did a little digging. The name Halliwell pops up in a lot of unsolved cases."

"Well, in that case, you should have also seen that your father was on many of those cases." Penny countered. "Maybe you should ask him if I'm lying."

"He doesn't talk about San Francisco." Morris said.

"So why did you come back here?" Penny asked. "You were too young to form real memories here."

"My dad has a great career on the east coast." Morris replied. "He's a captain now and has the respect of a lot of people."

"And you didn't want to live in his shadow." Penny guessed. "You wanted to make a name for yourself, so you decided to come back."

"That obvious huh?" Morris noted with a smile. "It was definitely part of the reason."

"And the other part?" Penny asked.

"I'm interviewing you, remember?" Morris replied. "Not the other way around."

"I'm aware." Penny said. "I'm just not sure what you're hoping to find. I told you everything."

"I'm having a hard time believing that." Morris said.

Penny sighed as she realized that the inspector was not going to trust her. The history between their families had made sure of that. It was time to take matters into her own hands and put a stop to this before she became a real suspect. She leaned closer and looked deep into his beautiful eyes.

"You should let this go, I'm not a suspect." Penny said in her hypnotic echoing voice. "I was just a coincidence I was there."

"I'll decide that, Miss Halliwell." Morris said in a strict tone.

Penny leaned back in shock as she realized that her hypnosis wasn't working. It had never failed her before with a mortal, which worried her. Perhaps Morris did know about the magical world through his father, but then why was he acting as if he didn't know anything?

"You seem surprised." Morris noted.

"I just don't like being treated as a suspect." Penny quickly said.

"I'm sorry, that wasn't my intention." Morris said. "I just want to solve this case and I cannot help but feel that you're involved somehow."

"I'm afraid I can't help you, inspector." Penny replied.

"Alright, since you're not a suspect, you're free to go." Morris noted. "Just stay close."

"You know where to find me." Penny replied with flirty wink.

Penny picked up her things and left the interrogation room. She needed to keep a close eye on the inspector, as his resistance to her hypnosis could mean he was more trouble than she had initially thought. She was about to step outside when she suddenly heard a hissing voice in her mind, impatiently wishing for her to show herself. She stopped as she realized it was Shula. The warlock had tracked her and was lying in wait, though her impatient thoughts had exposed her.

Penny went to the bathroom and texted Payton, as she was worried that calling her would alert the warlocks due to their enhanced senses. She quickly got a text back telling her that they had a plan and could use this to their advantage. All Penny needed to do was lure the warlocks to the nearby park.

Feeling somewhat nervous, Penny left the police station and made sure not to look up, as the warlocks would be watching her from the skies. She walked in a fast but not too suspicious pace, making sure to stay close to other people so the warlocks couldn't swoop down on her. After a few minutes, she reached the park and when she was alone, she started running through the trees to the meeting place. Before she could reach it, the female Dragon Warlock landed in front of her.

"I've been waiting for this." Shula hissed. "Time to burn, witch."

"Yeah, we don't really get burned anymore." Penny replied. "This isn't Salem."

"I'll be sure to bring back the witch trials once we rule." Shula said.

"Rule?" Penny asked with a frown. "I think you need to be a little smarter for that, or are you going to let daddy make all the choices?"

Shula angrily growled as she unleashed a breath of fire, which Penny avoided by levitating up into the air. She kicked a tree, propelling herself over the warlock and landing behind her. She kept running, but was knocked down as the warlock flew into her back with high speed. The two women rolled over the ground and jumped up at the same time. Penny noticed movement in the trees.

"You can't beat me." Shula said.

"I don't need to." Penny replied with a smile. "I'm not alone."

Penny levitated up into the air as a bolt of lightning flew past her and struck Shula in the chest. She was slammed into a tree and collapsed. As Penny landed, Julian and Payton joined her from their cover.

"Are you okay?" Payton asked.

"I'm fine." Penny replied. "Are you?"

"I'm good, we had a nice talk." Payton said as she looked at Julian.

"You did?" Penny asked.

"Is that so surprising?" Julian replied. "You told me to talk to her."

"Yeah, but I expected you screw up and for Noah to fix it." Penny admitted. "I just wanted to make you sweat."

"Well, he was pretty awkward at first." Payton said.

"At least I'm trying." Julian said. "That has to…"

Julian suddenly stopped and threw up his hand, telekinetically blocking a steam of fire aimed at them from the skies. He managed to deflect the stream into some bushes as the elder Dragon Warlock descended and landed next to his daughter. He helped her to her feet and turned to face the three witches.

"I guess this is a family affair on both sides." Rhys noted. "Where is the blade?"

"It's safe and far away from here." Julian replied.

"I doubt that." Rhys said. "I'm sure you have already figured out that the blade is one of the few things that can kill us."

"But not the only thing." Payton replied. "I wrote a spell."

When Payton revealed a piece of paper, Rhys and Shula unleashed streams of fire in an attempt to stop her. Julian quickly threw up both hands to block the flames, giving Penny a chance to read and memorize the spell. The three siblings then began to chant it at the same time.

"When witches three unite as one, let their flames become undone,

No longer may they cause a fright, let us end their evil flight."

Both warlocks stopped their attack as they were surrounded by blue flames. However, the flames did not seem to harm them Instead, they took a deep breath, taking in the flames through their mouths and neutralizing them.

"You have no Power of Three, witches." Rhys said. "Our kind cannot be vanquished with a simple rhyme."

"You've only gives us fuel." Shula added.

The Dragon Warlocks opened their mouths and breathed the blue flames of the spell back at them. Penny levitated up to avoid the flames, while Julian pulled Payton to the ground.

"Okay, that failed spectacularly." Penny said as she landed. "I think it's time to run."

"Agreed." Julian said.

The three siblings started running through the trees while the Dragon Warlocks rose up and followed them through the skies. While they ducked to avoid the fire, Julian occasionally turned around to throw lightning, though the warlocks were too fast in the air. They were about to reach a clearing in the park and Penny wondered when their plan would take shape.

Her question was answered almost immediately when they stopped in the clearing and she spotted something flashing in the trees. As the warlocks flew past the trees to reach the clearing, Sheng Li and Mei Ling leaped down from the branches and slammed into the warlocks, forcing them to the ground. As Sheng Li struggled to keep Rhys in place, Mei Ling fought Shula with the Dragon Blade in her hand. The young disciple managed to outmaneuver the warlock and plunged the blade into her chest, causing Shula to scream and breathe out a final flame. The Dragon Blade began to glow as her essence and flames were absorbed into it.

"No!" Rhys screamed as he threw Sheng Li off him and watched his daughter's body be reduced to ashes. "I will kill you all! I will tear you apart!"

"Quick, the blade." Sheng Li called out.

Mei Ling nodded and threw the blade, which Sheng Li caught as he ran toward Rhys. However, the enraged Dragon Warlock sensed his movement. He grabbed Sheng Li by the arm and snapped it as he slammed the disciple into the ground. Julian threw a bolt of lightning at Rhys and managed to paralyze him momentarily, though the warlock grew even more enraged over losing his daughter and broke free. He grabbed Sheng Li and threw him at Julian, knocking him back and causing the Dragon Blade to fall into the grass.

"The blade!" Payton called out.

Mei Ling noticed it and ran toward the blade, though she was forced to levitate back when Rhys breathed fire at her. Payton nodded at Penny and turned invisible, while Penny charged at the warlock and levitated to kick him in the face. Instead of falling, Rhys merely growled in anger as he grabbed her leg and threw her into a tree, knocking the wind out of her.

As she struggled for breath, Penny saw Payton pick up the blade and turn it invisible, though it was too late. Rhys had already spotted her and flew straight at her. Penny heard a scream as Payton was knocked over and turned visible again as she rolled through the grass. Rhys towered over her with the blade trembling in his hand, furiously hissing. He picked her up by the throat and raised the blade. Just as Rhys was about to strike, Julian appeared in between them through flames and the blade slid into his abdomen.

Xxx