Ari stood by her mirror, tying a ribbon in her hair, and she hummed an upbeat tune in her head. There was a knock at her bedroom door, causing her to sing out, "Come in!"

Josie opened the door, giving the Mae a small smile, "Good morning Ari." She greeted, as the brunette turned on her heels, facing Josie with a bright smile.

"Morning Jo!" She chirped, before skipping over to the girl, before they gently kissed.

Over the summer, Landon and Jesse had been stronger than ever, but while they were off being a very cute couple, Josie and Ari got to know eachother. Now, they were practically dating.

Josie pulled away, pressing her forehead against Ari's before taking a step back. "You seem to be in a good mood." She said.

Ari nodded, "I'm always in a good mood." She stated, "But I'm extra happy because Maze comes back today!" She chimed, beyond excited to see her best friend again.

Josie didn't smile, infact if anything her facial expression faltered a little. She hadn't spoken to Maze all summer, and she didn't want to. With the image of her still trying to hurt Alaric fresh in her mind, she wanted nothing to do with Mazikeen.

Ari's expression faltered, "Oh... sorry I didn't mean to um—"

"It's whatever, Ari." Josie replied, cutting her off. "Just... don't expect me to hang out with her." She admitted, basically telling the Mae that she'd have to choose between hanging out with Josie or Maze. She couldn't have both.

The witch nodded sadly, before she turned back to her mirror, to fix her hair.

❤︎︎

Mazikeen had hoped that summer would never end, and that she'd be in Europe forever with Lizzie and Caroline. Unfortunately, that remained a dream.

Summer was over, and the Parker was going back at the Salvatore school along with Lizzie.

She sat in the backseat of Caroline's car, sprawled out as she had been taking a nap. Lizzie sat in the passenger seat, talking to Caroline as the blonde drove them to their school.

Lizzie glanced over at Maze, who was still sleeping soundly. "I don't think Dad is gonna treat her fairly..." She admitted, feeling bad for her sister. It wasn't her fault she was filled with such darkness, and even then she had been controlling it really well until she found out the truth.

Caroline parked the car before she looked over at her niece, as she smiled sadly. She was going to leave for Europe again to try and find a cure for the merge, and she knew for a fact that while she was gone, Alaric would be mistreating their adoptive daughter.

"It's so unfair..." The Forbes admitted, wishing she could let Mazikeen continue to sleep, and take her back to Europe with her, but she also didn't want her education to suffer.

There was a sudden knock on the window, as Lizzie and Caroline looked to see a smiling Clary. Lizzie's face lit up, before she looked to her Mum. "I totally forgot I'm getting coffee with Clary before class. I'll see you later, love you." She quickly said, before she reached over and kissed Caroline's cheek. "Love you more." The Forbes teased.

Lizzie then left, hoping to drag Clary away before she could start chatting to her mother, though fortunately for the O'Connell she managed to at least get a hello in.

Caroline laughed, watching the two blondes walk towards the centre of town, before she glanced back at Maze. She reached over and gently shook the siphon witch, waking her.

"Hey Mum." Maze spoke sleepily, as she sat. "Hey sweetheart. Looks like you had a good nap." The Forbes laughed, as Maze fixed her hair.

"Yeah... I had the weirdest dream actually." She admitted, "It was about this beautiful girl... with auburn hair." Maze rambled on as Caroline couldn't help but to laugh. "When are you not thinking about pretty girls?" She asked her niece, who couldn't deny that statement.

"Hey um... I haven't really asked, and I shouldn't assume..." Mazikeen began, seeming to ramble. Caroline waited patiently, knowing she'd eventually get to the point.

"But can I... still call you Mum?"

This had been on Maze's mind a lot. She spoke to Lizzie about it, and they decided that they still were eachother's sisters. Maze had yet to talk to Josie about it. Caroline... in Mazikeen's eyes, had always been her mother.

Caroline's heart sank, before she nodded. "Of course baby. I'll never stop being your Mum." The Forbes insisted, before she reached over and placed a kiss on Maze's forehead.

The pair then noticed Molly approaching the school gate. She gave Caroline and Mazikeen a wave, as Caroline waved back. "I think she's here for you." The Forbes said with a smile.

Reluctantly, Mazikeen collected her things before saying, "Bye Mum. I love you." Caroline smiled back, "Bye honey, I love you too."

Moments later, an excited Molly rushed to hug the siphon witch, despite how badly it ended when they last hugged.

"Hey sweetie! How was Europe?" Molly asked, still chipper as always. It was as though Molly was completely over what happened, though Maze wasn't. She felt horrible.

The pair talked for a bit, as Maze told her about all the countries they'd visited between appointments, and about how she saw Penelope and Sophia in Belgium.

"Hey... I'm really sorry for siphoning from you." Mazikeen suddenly said, clearly still guilty. "It's alright, that wasn't you." Molly insisted, as Mazikeen felt her stomach sink, But what if it was her? What if the real Maze was the siphon filled with darkness that she had become on that day?

"You missed a lot after you left... Alaric is no longer the headmaster, and actually became the headmaster at Mystic Falls high." Molly explained, as Maze felt a wave of sympathy wash over her, as she didn't have to face Alaric yet.

"Is it bad that I'm relieved?" The Parker blurted, before her eyes widened in realisation at what she said. Molly laughed, but didn't answer the question. She wanted to tell Maze how sorry Alaric was for keeping the truth from her, but they all knew that he wasn't sorry about that... he was only sorry he got caught.

If Penelope never gave Josie that book, then there was a chance that Mazikeen may have never learnt about the truth.

❤︎︎

Ari let out a squeak of excitement upon seeing Maze enter the corridor, her suitcase beside her. "Maze!! Mazey!!" The Mae called out, rushing to hug her friend.

Maze's face lit up upon seeing the witch, and opened her arms as they hugged. "I missed you so much! How was Europe? You have so much to tell me!" The Mae managed to say all in one breath.

"I missed you too! We totally have to catch up, maybe once I've unpacked a bit?" Maze asked, before Ari's demeanour suddenly faltered, as they sensed an unhappy presence.

"Welcome back, Maze." Josie said, as though she was forcing the words out of her mouth. Maze put on a fake smile, as she hadn't rehearsed what she was going to say when she saw Josie again. "Hey Josie."

Josie then reached out and took Ari's hand in her own, intertwining their fingers. Maze noticed this, and blinked in surprise, before her eyes darted to Ari.

"Ari mustn't have told you, we're kind of a thing." Josie said to Maze, before she looked to Ari, her expression softening.

"Oh." Maze managed to say, seeming surprised. Now she seemed to understand why she hadn't really heard much from Ari while she was away in Europe.

"Yeah um... I wanted to tell you but um..." Ari trailed off, emphasising the I as she looked at Josie as though they'd discuss this.

Josie looked to Maze, noticing that her expression was unreadable, which worried her. "You're... not going to go all dark and hurt us, are you?" The Saltzman blurted with worry.

Maze knew that comment was meant to hurt her, of course Josie was still clearly angry about finding her hurting Alaric.

"Nope. I am not going to do that." Maze said, swallowing down any anger she felt, as she looked up at Josie with a fairly plain expression.

"Okay, good. This has been a really good thing for me, and I don't want you to have an episode and and ruin everything to steal the spotlight..."

Josie spun around, tugging Ari along. The witch offered her best friend a sad smile before walking away with Josie.

Mazikeen just processed everything that had happened, before she walked towards her dorm.

❤︎︎

After finding out that she was having to share a dorm with Alyssa, the Parker went to the kitchen to make herself a coffee... though truthfully she wanted to pour tequila into it.

"Maze?!"

The blonde turned around, her annoyed expression changing into a bright smile as she saw Landon and Jesse, who looked equally as excited to see her.

The Parker barely stopped into front of Landon as she threw her arms around her best friend and enveloped him into a hug. The boy chuckled as he hugged the girl back, spinning her around his arms before he let her back down on the ground.

"I missed you so much! I wish I could have packed you into my suitcase and brought you with me to Europe." Maze admitted, as Landon laughed, "That would have been awesome." He replied, "Though I did have an incredible summer with Jesse."

Maze stepped away from Landon, as she greeted Jesse with some hand signs. The werewolf smiled in response before he rushed forward to hug her. The Parker held Jesse, relieved to see him again, and to see him so happy too.

"So.. Josie and Ari..." Landon blurted, as Maze stepped away from Jesse. "Yeah, I was surprised by that." Maze replied, using hand signs so Jesse could understand and be included in this conversation.

"So were we... Josie doesn't seem like Ari's type." Jesse signed, although truthfully nobody really knew what Ari's type was, other than well... Ari.

"Ari and I haven't really talked a lot over the holidays... I thought it was just because of the time difference... but I guess it was more so because she is seeing Josie and didn't know how to tell me." Mazikeen sighed. She thought they were closer than that.

Before Landon or Jesse could say anything in response, the bell rang signalling for class to begin. Maze sighed, "I am way to jetlagged for this." She admitted to her friends, as they chuckled.