Post by Esmeralda on Dec 23, 2017 18:54:54 GMT -5
AUTHOR’S NOTE: This was supposed to be my entry for the Long Story Contest that was originally supposed to be written throughout 2017 and was due in December.
This is the scenario I used and the rules I was following:
Long Story Contest:
December - Charmed Ones "What If...?" Choices
You may pick either question to build your story around, just remember this is a 5,000 word count minimum!
GOOD LUCK AND HAVE FUN!
And that I most definitely did! Especially when I checked with StoryGirl and she said that I didn’t have to stick with previous canon the way you had to for the Early Paige Years Contest, so I picked up an idea that my friends and I played with many years ago and had fun by twisting it a bit to fit the rules…
Right now it appears that if there’s going to be a Long Story Contest in 2018, the scenarios will be totally different, so as a Christmas present for all of you, I’ve decided to present my entry, which is now nothing more than alternate ending for Charmed with a lot of canon changed to fit my story…
So?? What do you think?
This is the scenario I used and the rules I was following:
December - Charmed Ones "What If...?" Choices
You may pick either question to build your story around, just remember this is a 5,000 word count minimum!
- What if the ORIGINAL Charmed Ones were not Prue, Piper, and Phoebe but a different selection of sisters that includes Paige and at least one of the others?
- What if there was a different result to All Hell Breaks Loose. Examples include: a different sister was killed as a result of the attack, multiple sisters were killed, no sisters were killed; no Paige to bring back the Charmed Ones; someone else important to the sisters is killed, such as Leo, Cole, Victor, or a ghostly relative; or something else entirely. Take your pick. Just create an alternate storyline from AHBL.
GOOD LUCK AND HAVE FUN!
And that I most definitely did! Especially when I checked with StoryGirl and she said that I didn’t have to stick with previous canon the way you had to for the Early Paige Years Contest, so I picked up an idea that my friends and I played with many years ago and had fun by twisting it a bit to fit the rules…
Right now it appears that if there’s going to be a Long Story Contest in 2018, the scenarios will be totally different, so as a Christmas present for all of you, I’ve decided to present my entry, which is now nothing more than alternate ending for Charmed with a lot of canon changed to fit my story…
May 17, 2001
I slowly but surely make my way through the caverns of the Underworld. Cole has to be around here somewhere; he just has to be. I just have to find him and give him my potion, and then he’ll be healed. Just one drop of my antidote and we'll live happily ever after, right? But where is he? Why can't I find him?
As my search becomes frantic, thoughts of Cole are replaced by other voices, starting with my own:
“Then I'm hoping you won't need me around here for a while,” I reply resolutely. “I want to try a new potion on Cole. One that will reverse the spell that turned him bad in the first place.”
Piper shakes her head. “Phoebe...”
“I'm not looking for your approval, Piper, just your support,” I interject, knowing full well that long ago my sisters gave up on Cole and our love.
Prue rolls her eyes. “Well, Phoebe, it's sort of hard to give you support when you're just setting yourself up to get hurt again,” and that confirms the fact that both of my sisters believe that Cole is not salvageable.
“Cole is good inside; I know it,” I insist, doing my best to convince Prue and Piper. “And if dark magic did this to him, then how come white magic can't save him? I can't just turn my back; I have to try.”
“What do you want us to do?” Piper finally asks. Thank God; she's giving in to my plea for help.
“I want you to use the magic-to-magic spell to send me down there. I reworded it to make it work,” and I hand the spell to Piper.
“Uh, Phoebe, that's awfully dangerous,” Piper warns. “If something goes wrong, we won't be able to contact each other.”
“I'll be safe," I insist, confidently. "I'll be with Cole. And he'll bring me back, so don't worry about that.”
“You're banking a lot on that little potion of yours, you know,” Prue cautions.
"No, I'm not. I'm banking on Cole.”
And I know I am.
"Phoebe?" At the sound of my beloved's voice, my heart jumps, and I spin around. There's my Cole, staring darkly in my direction with unblinking eyes. It takes me every effort to refrain from running into his arms. Instead, I draw out my potion vial from my pocket and throw it at his feet. When the smoke clears, I run to him, knowing in my heart that I've succeeded and he's saved, especially when there’s now light in his eyes. But even before I can hug him, he grabs my arm. "I have to get you out of here."
I firmly shake my head. "No. You mean get us out of here."
He grabs my other arm and shakes me. "Listen to me; this is serious. Something's happening; something big. I…it's too dangerous for you here."
"Why?" I demand. "What's happening?"
His turn to shake his head. "I don't know, but whatever it is, it's important enough for The Source to have come."
His words terrify me. "What? He's here? Now?"
"Which is why you have to go."
But suddenly there's a funnel of white lights, white lights that turns into "Leo?" What the hell is he doing here in the Underworld? I already have Cole to protect me, but Leo left my sisters vulnerable by coming here! If either are hurt, he won't be able to heal them.
"Are you out of your mind?" Cole must be thinking the same thing. "What are you doing?"
"Trying to save my family," and Leo's tone of voice says he's not kidding. "Prue and Piper have been exposed, Phoebe. The whole world knows you're witches."
I stare at him in shock. "What? How?"
He shakes his head. "It doesn't matter how; what matters is getting them out of it." He turns towards Cole. "Which requires your help."
Cole's shock turns to total confusion, just like mine. "Come again?"
"You have to get Tempus. You have to get him to reverse time."
I can't help it; I burst out laughing, so certain that Leo is joking. "Ah, you've gotta be kidding. There's no way."
But Leo doesn't even crack a smile. Omigod, he's perfectly serious. "It's the only way, Phoebe, but we have to move fast."
Again Cole shakes his head. "I couldn't summon Tempus even if I wanted to--I don't have that kind of power."
I glance at Leo and immediately know what he has in mind. I turn back towards my guy, knowing I'm asking a lot of him, especially having just saved him from the Dark. "But you know somebody who does."
It's Cole's turn to laugh. "Wait, you want me to ask The Source to help witches?" and his voice is full of sarcasm, obviously now certain that both of us are crazy.
"It doesn't just help witches," Leo points out. "The demonic world has been exposed too, Cole; why do you think he's here? Resetting time solves everybody's problem. But make it your idea; pitch it like you're doing it to save him, not them. Whether that's why you're doing it or not."
"This is suicide." But Cole gives a heavy sigh and I know that he'll do it. After giving me a quick kiss, he turns around and leaves.
I've waited and waited and waited and there's still no sign of Cole. It's probably only been a few moments, but it seems like hours. Just when I start considering asking Leo to return me to the Manor, Cole finally comes back. I run up to him, hugging and kissing him madly. "Cole, where have you been? We've been worried." Then I see the look on his face. "What's the matter?"
"He knows. About you; about us." Cole's voice sounds hollow, as if he's made a deal with the devil. And perhaps he has.
I feel the color draining from my face. "So, what does that mean?"
"He's offering a deal," and I sigh with relief. "He'll get Tempus to reset time if you stay...here."
"What?" Leo screams, horrified. "Down here? He's crazy."
Cole rolls his eyes. "Hardly."
Leo firmly shakes his head. "Yeah, well, we're desperate but not that desperate."
There has to be a catch somewhere. "Why would he think that I would accept an offer like that?" I ask, although deathly afraid to hear the answer, even though I know I must.
For a moment, Cole remains silent.
"Cole? What is it?"
He takes a deep breath and slowly lets it out. "Because it's the only way to bring one of your sisters back to life."
"What?" I scream.
"It's a trick," Leo insists. "He's lying."
Cole firmly shakes his head "No. He's not."
I spin away from Cole to look at Leo. "Leo, my sisters. Go check on my sisters."
I didn’t have to tell him twice; he's already orbed out. Cole makes to put his arms around me, but I wriggle my way out, determined not to believe a word of this.
NO! Leo’s back and the absolute devastation on his face tells me all I need to know. Only losing one person could put that look on his face and when I speak the name of his wife, my sister, and he nods, I lean over, hugging him as tightly as I can.
"You don't have to do this."
I almost smile. Despite his obvious agony, he's still thinking about his charge, about me. And I know what I have to do. I let out a heavy sigh. "Yes, Leo. I do." I turn to Cole. "So, will resetting time affect us down here?" Cole shakes his head. "Good. I only have one condition. You must warn Prue and Piper before the demonic hit man attacks. Otherwise they're dead anyway. And I must be able to watch to be sure that that's what happens. I’ll only stay down here if my sisters remain safe."
"I doubt if he'll agree, but I'll go ask," and he leaves to relay my counter-offer to The Source, while I hug Leo, insisting that everything will be all right. Despite his own suffering, he keeps trying to talk me out of it, reminding me of the last time that we tried to make a pact with evil, a pact that almost precipitated the end of the world. This might not be that drastic, but it would mean the end of The Charmed Ones, forever.
But I've thought this through and I disagree.
"That's not going to happen," I insist. "Look, I promised to stay down here; you didn't. Obviously The Source doesn’t know you are here. If we can still remember what happened, then you can orb back and warn them as soon as the day restarts. Make sure that Piper and Prue don’t leave the Manor and run into Shax outside. Make sure they aren't exposed; make sure that neither of them die."
"But what about you?"
And again I have to smile at his concern for me, his charge. I shrug. "Well, as soon as they're safe, I'm sure they'll find a way to rescue me, right?"
"But he'll just send Shax after all of you again."
"And we'll have The Power of Three to stop him. I won't come back here, Leo; I won't, so if they're attacked again, you'll be able to save them. Everything will be okay, Leo; I swear it will."
But Leo didn't get a chance to reply because Cole's back. "He's agreed. Watch," and he points at one of the rocks. When Leo and I look that way we see it’s glowing. It glows for a moment before images begin appearing and we can see inside a hospital. We watch my oldest sister, tears rolling down her so-pale face, covering our other sister’s face with a sheet. I can also see a SWAT member locked outside, but pointing his gun into the room – at Prue.
No!
He's fired his gun and the bullet is shooting straight through the wall! NO! Both of my sisters can't die!
But the scream has died in my throat because the bullet suddenly stopped in mid-air and then went backwards.
We've all watched in shock as time reversed. Now time has stopped and is going forward again as we watch the Manor door swing open and Prue and Piper rush Paige Matthews, our friend and innocent, inside, stopping at the base of the stairs, all three looking very worried.
The rest of the color drains from my face and my stomach turns as I realize what's about to happen. "No!" I scream. "No! He was supposed to restart the whole day! This is too soon! I'm supposed to be upstairs looking for the spell in The Book of Shadows!"
Cole shakes his head even as I hear Prue's voice and I spin around, back towards the enchanted rock, our window to what's happening in the Manor at this very instant.
“Don’t worry,” Prue is reassuring our innocent. “We’re not going to let anything happen to you."
She nods. “I think I’ve been around you guys long enough to know that you’ll take care of things. What I don’t understand is why I’ve suddenly become a target.”
Prue shrugs. “Comes with the territory.”
Piper nods. “We did tell you that knowing our secret and being friends with us could be hazardous to your health,” and Piper's sarcasm makes me smile. They're alive, thank God, my sisters are alive! But will they remain that way?
“Not to mention all the good that you’ve been doing,” Prue adds. “Clearly The Source seems to think you’re enough of a threat to send his personal assassin after you.”
Paige sighs. “Well isn't that just grea— ” Suddenly she stops, frowning, as she looks towards the stairs.
“What?”
Our innocent wraps her arms around herself. “I don’t know; I just felt a chill.”
"Phoebe, you can't!" Cole cries out as I dart towards the exit, forgetting in my panic that there's no physical exit out of the Underworld. "He only promised to rewind time; he didn't promise to restart the whole day."
I scream again as I watch Prue stare at Paige. “You’ve had feelings like that before when there’s evil around. Maybe he’s coming. We might need The Power of Three; we need Phoebe!” and she calls out my name.
No! That's the warning, but it's much too late! Again I scream. "Leo, you have to take me back!"
“Phoebe, are you there?” Prue's yelling, my unflappable oldest sister beginning to panic a bit. “Phoebe, where are you?"
"Leo, now! I have to be there so I can cast the spell!"
But before he can reach out for my hand, a pack of demons shimmer into the cavern, throwing energy balls at us--at me. Shoving me behind himself, Cole uses his powers to reflect them back and to throw some of his own at the attacking demons. I duck for cover, throwing my leg out to trip an approaching demon, and then back away from the fight, certain that Cole will be able to handle them now that I know that my potion didn't take away his powers, much more worried about my sisters and now intent on watching them and our innocent through the enchanted rock.
Leo throws himself to the ground as an energy ball flies past, but I don’t reach out to help. Not when the enchanted rock now shows a tornado of wind twisting through the Manor's front door, blasting it open. I have to smile as Prue quickly and protectively shoves our innocent behind her, but my smile falters as the tornado send my two older sisters sailing, knocking them to the floor, sending my two sisters sailing. A clap of thunder sounds before the tornado calms down, revealing Shax, the personal assassin of The Source of All Evil.
”No!” Prue screams as she jumps from the floor and shoves our innocent out of the way just in time. But even though the blast of air that Shax has thrown misses his original target, it instead sends my oldest sister literally crashing straight through a wall!
"Leo!" I call urgently as a grimy demon rushes towards me and I box-kick it backwards, but Leo didn’t need further direction as he has already orbed out, even as Cole vanquished the demon attacking my brother-in-law.
I find myself trapped behind a large boulder, unable to make my way towards Cole, who I now realize has been successfully keeping the demons at bay, at least for now. Peeking around the boulder, I look for an opening to help in the battle, but the enchanted rock again catches my eye and returns my attention back to my sisters.
"Prue!" Piper's screaming as she pushes herself up, also trying to protect our innocent. Even as Leo orbs in, Shax throws another blast of air at our innocent. Piper rushes forward and the blast hits her head on, sending her crashing through the same wall so she lands right next to Prue before Leo can say a word.
“Piper!” Leo screams. “Prue!” He rushes towards them, stumbling over the debris from the smashed walls.
"No!" I scream. "What have I done, Cole? What have I done? I've killed both of my sisters!" I turn towards my love, but Cole's not listening. He continues fighting the demons I was determined to ignore as I watched my sisters fight for our innocent’s life.
But now Paige’s scream joins mine as Shax turns towards her. "Leo!" I scream at the wall, "our innocent!" But of course he can't hear me, and he's obviously too concerned, too worried about his wife whose death in the hospital he must still remember. He's already kneeling between my sisters, one of his hands already over each of them.
“Oh, God... ”
Even as Cole vanquished yet another demon and a fire ball flew past my head, singing the tips of my hair, I could hear our innocent pray. But nothing can stop The Source’s assassin. Shax has thrown a third blast of air, this one sending Paige Matthews, my friend and our innocent, crashing into a window, where she ends up hanging upside down, blood pouring from her ears, just like the blood continues to pour from my two sisters’ ears.
OMIGOD!
It's as if Shax knows I'm watching, because he turns to look right at me, smirk plastered on his ugly face as he declares, “It's the end,” as he throws back his arm, ready to pitch another blast of tornadic air.
NO! OH, GOD, PLEASE NO!
Leo looked up from my sisters, who both still have blood pouring from their ears, realizing too late that Shax is the one who spoke, and was unable to protect himself from the blast of air that sent him crashing into a tree. Now I watch in even more horror as he falls limply to the ground. He's unconscious! Unable to help my sisters who are still unconscious, who aren’t healed yet, who are still dying!
OMIGOD! My family needed me. My family needed me and I wasn't there!
Jumping up from my crouched position, I run forward and flip the remaining demon onto his back just as he reached out to throw his energy balls at Cole. Instead, they go flying to the cavern’s ceiling, sending rock crumbling down around us. Having given Cole an opening, my love sends the one remaining demon to his grave.
"Don't worry," and he reaches his arms around me and holds me tightly as I snuggle into his chest. "Leo's already dead. That energy ball can't kill him." The demons are gone and it's taken me a moment to register that he has vanquished them alone while still protecting me. Sometimes I forget how ruthless and resourceful my guy can be in a fight, and how glad I am that he still is despite now being saved. He’s saved, but still my Cole.
"No," I agree, "but now he’s knocked out and now he can't heal my sisters or our innocent."
Movement from the enchanted rock grabs our attention and we watch as Shax looks around, focusing on Leo’s twisted form lying not far from Prue and Piper. Finally, he looked towards the window where Paige is still hanging. Again Shax turns to look at us, smiling his cruel smirk, obviously pleased with his work. Turning back into a tornado of wind, he blows out the front door. The glass on the door smash as it slams shut.
I scream and I screech and I cry and I moan, wondering how I will ever survive without my sisters.
"C'mon," Cole reaches a hand towards me, anger shimmering in his voice. "He sent those demons to kill you and then rewound time in a way that would ensure your sisters’ deaths while making certain that evil wouldn't be exposed, so there's no need for you to keep your promise. I don't know what we can do, but we've got to try to do something. Let's go," and he shimmers us back to the Manor.
As soon as we arrive, I start to run for my sisters, but then I stop. No, innocents have to come first. If there's any chance of saving her… I spin around and run towards the window but quickly skid to a stop. There's no need to hurry. All the blood that ran from Paige’s ears is on the floor. No more drips.
We've failed. Even if Prue and Piper are okay, we've failed. Our innocent is already dead.
Hearing footsteps, knowing that Cole is hurrying towards my sisters to try to save them no matter what they thought of him, I just stand there, staring at my friend, mourning her loss.
I remember meeting her just a few months ago because the son of one of our innocents is one of her clients. As soon as I met Paige, I felt something, like I already knew her. I couldn’t help wondering if maybe I’d known her in a previous life or something. We started talking about her client and my innocent (with me pretending that I was my innocent’s counselor), but there was just such a connection, like the connection that my sisters have always had and that I always wished I shared with them, but never quite had, not even after we became Charmed. They always treated me like the baby of the family, while Paige made me feel like an equal. When she asked me to go out for coffee with her, I immediately agreed and we talked for hours on end. I felt like I had met a friend for life. No, closer than that. It was almost as if she could’ve been a fourth sister.
I brought her home to the Manor and Prue and Piper liked her just as much as I did. When Paige found out that Piper would be married soon and Piper was going to do all the baking, Paige said she loved baking and wanted to help. And when Prue told her that she was going to take all of the pictures, Paige told her that she also loved photography and the two of them had all sorts of fun going through the main floor of the Manor, with Paige oohing over the architecture and helping Prue plan the pictures she wanted to take.
But suddenly she got a strange look on her face and when we asked her what was up, she told us that she often got a funny feeling as if something bad was about to happen and it usually did. No sooner did she say that than a demon showed up. Piper quickly froze everything and we got rid of the demon before Paige unfroze, but it made us wonder. And when just a few weeks later, I had a premonition of another demon going after her, we all knew that she was no longer just a friend, she was also an innocent.
And now that innocent hung before me, dead, killed by The Source of Evil’s own personal assassin, which means she must’ve been a very special person who The Source really wanted dead.
“I’m so sorry, Phoebe.”
At the sound of Cole’s voice, I spin around and throw myself into his arms as I start sobbing.
“I tried to wake up Leo so he could heal them, but that monster must’ve really done a number on him because he’s still out. So then I tried to revive your sisters, but, I’m so sorry, Phoebe, they were already gone.”
“No! No! No! They can’t be. They can’t both be dead! What will I ever do without them?”
He rocks me as I weep and weep before he sets me aside. “I’m going to go call Darryl. If anyone is going to investigate this, I think you want it to be him.”
I nod, wondering how he can be so prosaic at a time like this, but so glad that he can be, since there's no way I’d want to make that call. As he leaves to go to the kitchen, I slowly make my way to my sisters’ bodies.
I stare at Prue, the big sister I’ve admired all my life but at the same time hated so much of my life because everyone always thought that she was so perfect at the same time they thought that I was just a screw-up. Prue was like a substitute mother to Piper and me after Mom died and knowing that Prue also thought that I was a screw-up hurt so much that I became even more of a screw-up just to spite her. Only after we became Charmed did she start to admire me for who I am and what I can do and we were finally able to become close.
And now she's gone.
Next I stare at Piper, the sister who kept in touch with me even after I bailed out on the family and who let me come home when I was broke and jobless. She’s also the one who kept Prue and me from killing each other until we could finally accept each other, as Piper always had faith that we eventually would.
And now she's also gone.
Except for my dad, Leo and Cole, I'm all alone.
What will I ever do?
Suddenly it hit me. I darted up the stairs, shoved open the door and ran into the attic. Because I'm not totally alone! I still have The Book of Shadows! Running to the book that since we became Charmed has been just as much of a family member as my sisters and has never let me down, I start frantically flipping the pages, knowing there's a spell that I've seen before, knowing that it's the one that can fix all of this. I was hoping that maybe someone – Grams, Mom, one of my sisters – I didn’t care who, just so they’d do it – would have flipped it to the right page as so often happened before, but no such luck.
Well, I finally found the page myself and after quickly scanning the directions, I found myself a silver bowl, an athame, and the proper herbs – rosemary, cypress and yarrow root – so glad that Piper keeps a large supply of them up here.
Now I take a deep breath before throwing the herbs into the bowl as I cast the spell to call a lost witch, changing it so it will be a call to two lost witches:
“Powers of this witch now rise
Course unseen across the skies
Come to me, I call both of you near
Come to me and both settle here.”
Then taking the athame, I slice the middle finger of my left hand so that blood can symbolically spill directly from my heart and into the bowl and squeeze a few drops of blood into the bowl over the herbs. As I do, I can’t help remembering how we did this to bring our ancestor, Melinda Warren, back to life and how Piper didn’t want to do that even when I reminded her about how we became blood sisters up at the lake and Piper reminded me of how her finger got infected, even as I complete the spell:
“Blood to blood, I summon both of thee.
Blood to blood, please return to me.”
“I’m sorry, Phoebs, but that’s a Power of Three spell, so it’s not going to work.”
“Prue? Omigod! Prue!”
I don’t care what she said; I’m just overjoyed that I heard my big sister’s voice.
My spell worked! My sisters are alive again!
But when I look up, all of my joy vanishes. My sisters are indeed here, both of them, but both are glowing golden with light while standing in a circle of white light, just like Grams when we summon her, and I know what that means.
Both of my sisters are ghosts!
“Sorry, Phoebs,” Prue repeats. “That’s a Power of Three spell, so that’s not something that you can do now.”
“Nor is it really something we want you to do, Phoebs,” Piper adds. “You’d never believe how beautiful and peaceful it is up there. We don’t want to leave. Mom is there and so is Grams.”
Prue smiles. “And so is Andy. He welcomed me in.”
“And Mark Chao and his dad welcomed me in,” Piper adds with a smile.
I have to smile at the vision my sisters have portrayed. Even as I do, I look at the athame that's still in my right hand and then turn my left arm over and stare at my wrist, thinking how easy it would be.
“Phoebe!” Piper screams. “No! You can’t do that!”
“But why not?" I demand. "Why can’t I join you and Prue and get to be with Mom and Grams and all the others, too? Maybe Melinda Warren will be the one to welcome me in.”
“Because if you kill yourself, no one will welcome you in,” Leo tells me as he walks into the room with Cole, but his eyes are just on Piper. “You’ll be bound to the Earth, unable to see the Light, so unable to join them on the other side.”
Cole comes up and hugs me. “And what would I do without you?”
“We were wrong about him,” Prue admits to my shock. “And he needs you as much as you need him.”
“But how will I ever get along without you two?”
Piper smiles, suddenly looking a bit too much like our grandmother for my liking. “Your destiny awaits.” Now she sounds too much like Grams!
“Destiny?” I exclaim in shock. “My destiny! In case you haven’t noticed our destiny is over!”
“No, Phoebs,” Prue insists. “Ours is, as it was always meant to on this day so you could step out of our shadows. You’re the Charmed One now.”
“But, Prue, I can’t be," I insist. "If I had been the other one killed, you or Piper could’ve because you have active powers. Mine is passive. I’ll be dead the next time Shax shows up before I even blink my eyes!”
And as if to prove my point, we can hear the door downstairs slamming open and the wind blowing up the stairs. I scream even as Cole forms a fireball, but the ghosts of my sisters remain unusually calm.
Even as the tornado appears at the top of the stairs and the thunder crashes, announcing Shax’s imminent appearance, Piper calls out, “Do what I didn’t do, Phoebe! Flick your hands! Quick!”
Huh? Flick my hands like Piper does when she freezes something? I shrugged but did what I was told just as Shax took form and, OMIGOD! The demon actually froze!
The ghosts of my sisters smile and then Prue adds, “Now do what I should’ve done and wave your arm.”
Now I grinned, totally liking this idea as I again did what I was told by one of my sisters and Shax’s frozen form flew across the room and into the wall, not breaking through as my sisters had but still sinking, unconscious, to the floor, just like Leo after he hit the tree.
“Phoebe!" Leo exclaims. "Please tell me you remember the spell to get rid of him.”
As if I could ever forget that one…
"Evil wind that blows,
That which forms below,”
Suddenly cracks of thunder rattle the stained-glass window even as Shax begins to awaken.
“No longer may you dwell,” I continue to chant even as Shax groans. “Death takes you with this spell!"
But rather than exploding as I expected him to do, Shax just went POOF in a puff of white smoke.
I spin to face the ghosts of my sisters, staring at them in shock. “I now have your powers, too?”
Prue smiles. “Well, we sure don’t need them where we are!”
“Your wish has come true,” Piper smirks. “You now have active powers, Phoebs. Two of them!”
“But wait a minute! If I’m now the Charmed One – and I have to admit that that’s pretty darn cool – why did Shax just vanish? You guys know about how we had Tempus turn back time?”
“Of course,” Prue smiles, then turns serious. “You tried to change our destinies. Both Piper and I were supposed to die in that hospital…”
“So then our innocent wasn’t supposed to die.”
“No, Phoebs, she wasn’t,” Piper admits regretfully. “And we found out something. She’s more than our innocent, more than our friend. There's a reason why Andy welcomed Prue in and Mark and his father welcomed me in - Mom was welcoming Paige in.”
I stare at her, totally confused. “Why would Mom welcome Paige…” Then it hits me. “I was right all along - she really is another sister.”
“Half,” Prue puts in. “Mom and Sam’s. Had she lived, she would’ve been able to help you with your destiny, able to use that ability of hers to sense danger.”
“And,” Prue adds with a smile. “Her ability to orb.”
“Whoa. So that’s why The Source sent Shax after her…and, omigod, I set her up….”
“You didn’t know,” Leo comforts me. “Just remember that you didn’t know.”
“No, I didn’t. But now I wish I had.”
“I still don’t get something,” Cole puts in, changing the subject away from someone he hardly knew. “If you two remember what happened in the hospital, you know that the first time Phoebe cast that spell, it didn’t succeed in vanquishing Shax—that it just made him go poof like what just happened.”
“Well, that makes sense,” Piper shrugs. “It’s a Power of Three spell and Prue and I didn’t cast it with her. Just like when Prue and I tried to vanquish him out in the streets without Phoebe.”
“But,” Cole continues, “if she now has have all three powers…”
“You didn’t hear what I told her earlier,” Prue interrupts. “Phoebs might be the Charmed One now, but she’s still only one. It still takes three sisters descended from Melinda Warren to cast a Power of Three spell. She’s just the Power of One and that’s only a third as powerful as the Power of Three.”
“She’s right, Phoebe,” Leo tells me. “You still can’t cast Power of Three spells, but you can use your powers to make higher-level demons go poof.” Suddenly he looks up. “The Elders. They’re calling. I’ll be right back,” and he orbs out.
“I’m afraid we have to go pretty soon, too.” Prue sighs regretfully. “And unlike Leo, we won’t be back, at least not right away.”
“No!” I scream. “No! You just got here! You can’t leave.”
“You know how long Grams can stay with us when we summon her,” Piper reminds me. “It’s the same for us. We can only stay for a short time and we will always have to stay within this circle, except for very special occasions,” and she smiles at Cole. “Like a wedding…hint, hint, hint!”
“I’m afraid it’s going to be like Leo’s healing," Again Prue sighs. "They’ll only let us come when you actually need us.”
“But I’ll always need you two!” I moan.
“No, you won’t,” Prue insists. “You keep depending on us, you’ll never be able to actually grow and become what you truly are.”
“And,” Piper adds, “don’t forget that you have to let us be able to enjoy our own reward that we’ve earned.”
“We’ll help you get used to your new powers,” Prue explains, “the way Leo helped us when we first got ours, but that’s really about it.”
“But…”
“No, Phoebs,” Piper insists. “You have Cole now, and you have Leo. With them you’ll be just fine.”
“Especially because you won’t have to worry about The Source anymore,” Leo announces as he orbs back in.
Cole and I spin to face him, the shock I see on Cole's face reflecting my own. "We won't?"
“No. The Elders just had a conference with some of The Source’s most powerful minions. Since The Source now knows that you can't destroy Shax, which means you can’t destroy him, he's going to call a truce and leave both you and Cole alone – he thinks that you having to live without your sisters is enough of a punishment.”
Both Prue and Piper smile so large it's surprising that their faces don’t split. “You see, Phoebs?” Prue asks. “You’re going to be just fine. Blessed be, Charmed One. Blessed be, little sis. Take good care of her, Cole.”
“Blessed be, Phoebs,” Piper adds, then turns to smile lovingly at Leo. “See you Up There real soon. Just before we were summoned, I got to see how happy Mom was when Sam came to visit her now that he’s a whitelighter again. I'm sure I’ll feel the same way each time you visit me.”
Leo smiles back. “Whenever I’m not taking care of a charge, especially this one,” and he smiles at me.
Even as he spoke, white sparkling lights have appeared and now circle around my two ghostly sisters. When the lights vanish so do the ghosts and the circle they were standing in.
I turn to look at Leo and Cole. “But if The Source isn’t going to bother me anymore, what happened to my destiny?”
But before either of them can answer, we hear the doorbell. Leo smiles. “Maybe there’s your answer.”
“Well, who could that be?” I wonder. "Darryl?"
"No, he wasn't at the station when I called," Cole tells me before he smiles as he takes my hand. “C'mon. Let’s go find out.”
So the three of us have gone downstairs and now I opened the front door to find a blonde teenager. “Hello. Are you the Halliwells?” she asks.
I smirk as I glance at Leo and Cole. “Well, they’re not, but I'm one of them,” not quite ready to admit to a stranger that I'm the last of the Halliwells.
“Well, my mom and dad are witches and they said that you’re the Charmed Ones and that you might be able to help us.”
“What sort of help do you need?” Leo asks.
“My older sister was kidnapped ten years ago and today I had my first-ever premonition – the first time I’ve had any sort of power - and I could see her in a cave.”
I gasp and then turn to Leo. “But I thought The Source was going to…”
“He wasn’t going to send demons after you.” Cole's the one who reminds me. “That doesn’t mean other demons won’t go after innocents.”
I give him a big, bright smile. “Of course. Innocents. Piper was right. My destiny does await – taking over our destiny of protecting and helping innocents with your and Leo's help.” I turn to our new innocent. “Tell us all about your sister and what happened to her so we can figure out what we can do to help.”
The End
I slowly but surely make my way through the caverns of the Underworld. Cole has to be around here somewhere; he just has to be. I just have to find him and give him my potion, and then he’ll be healed. Just one drop of my antidote and we'll live happily ever after, right? But where is he? Why can't I find him?
As my search becomes frantic, thoughts of Cole are replaced by other voices, starting with my own:
“Then I'm hoping you won't need me around here for a while,” I reply resolutely. “I want to try a new potion on Cole. One that will reverse the spell that turned him bad in the first place.”
Piper shakes her head. “Phoebe...”
“I'm not looking for your approval, Piper, just your support,” I interject, knowing full well that long ago my sisters gave up on Cole and our love.
Prue rolls her eyes. “Well, Phoebe, it's sort of hard to give you support when you're just setting yourself up to get hurt again,” and that confirms the fact that both of my sisters believe that Cole is not salvageable.
“Cole is good inside; I know it,” I insist, doing my best to convince Prue and Piper. “And if dark magic did this to him, then how come white magic can't save him? I can't just turn my back; I have to try.”
“What do you want us to do?” Piper finally asks. Thank God; she's giving in to my plea for help.
“I want you to use the magic-to-magic spell to send me down there. I reworded it to make it work,” and I hand the spell to Piper.
“Uh, Phoebe, that's awfully dangerous,” Piper warns. “If something goes wrong, we won't be able to contact each other.”
“I'll be safe," I insist, confidently. "I'll be with Cole. And he'll bring me back, so don't worry about that.”
“You're banking a lot on that little potion of yours, you know,” Prue cautions.
"No, I'm not. I'm banking on Cole.”
And I know I am.
"Phoebe?" At the sound of my beloved's voice, my heart jumps, and I spin around. There's my Cole, staring darkly in my direction with unblinking eyes. It takes me every effort to refrain from running into his arms. Instead, I draw out my potion vial from my pocket and throw it at his feet. When the smoke clears, I run to him, knowing in my heart that I've succeeded and he's saved, especially when there’s now light in his eyes. But even before I can hug him, he grabs my arm. "I have to get you out of here."
I firmly shake my head. "No. You mean get us out of here."
He grabs my other arm and shakes me. "Listen to me; this is serious. Something's happening; something big. I…it's too dangerous for you here."
"Why?" I demand. "What's happening?"
His turn to shake his head. "I don't know, but whatever it is, it's important enough for The Source to have come."
His words terrify me. "What? He's here? Now?"
"Which is why you have to go."
But suddenly there's a funnel of white lights, white lights that turns into "Leo?" What the hell is he doing here in the Underworld? I already have Cole to protect me, but Leo left my sisters vulnerable by coming here! If either are hurt, he won't be able to heal them.
"Are you out of your mind?" Cole must be thinking the same thing. "What are you doing?"
"Trying to save my family," and Leo's tone of voice says he's not kidding. "Prue and Piper have been exposed, Phoebe. The whole world knows you're witches."
I stare at him in shock. "What? How?"
He shakes his head. "It doesn't matter how; what matters is getting them out of it." He turns towards Cole. "Which requires your help."
Cole's shock turns to total confusion, just like mine. "Come again?"
"You have to get Tempus. You have to get him to reverse time."
I can't help it; I burst out laughing, so certain that Leo is joking. "Ah, you've gotta be kidding. There's no way."
But Leo doesn't even crack a smile. Omigod, he's perfectly serious. "It's the only way, Phoebe, but we have to move fast."
Again Cole shakes his head. "I couldn't summon Tempus even if I wanted to--I don't have that kind of power."
I glance at Leo and immediately know what he has in mind. I turn back towards my guy, knowing I'm asking a lot of him, especially having just saved him from the Dark. "But you know somebody who does."
It's Cole's turn to laugh. "Wait, you want me to ask The Source to help witches?" and his voice is full of sarcasm, obviously now certain that both of us are crazy.
"It doesn't just help witches," Leo points out. "The demonic world has been exposed too, Cole; why do you think he's here? Resetting time solves everybody's problem. But make it your idea; pitch it like you're doing it to save him, not them. Whether that's why you're doing it or not."
"This is suicide." But Cole gives a heavy sigh and I know that he'll do it. After giving me a quick kiss, he turns around and leaves.
I've waited and waited and waited and there's still no sign of Cole. It's probably only been a few moments, but it seems like hours. Just when I start considering asking Leo to return me to the Manor, Cole finally comes back. I run up to him, hugging and kissing him madly. "Cole, where have you been? We've been worried." Then I see the look on his face. "What's the matter?"
"He knows. About you; about us." Cole's voice sounds hollow, as if he's made a deal with the devil. And perhaps he has.
I feel the color draining from my face. "So, what does that mean?"
"He's offering a deal," and I sigh with relief. "He'll get Tempus to reset time if you stay...here."
"What?" Leo screams, horrified. "Down here? He's crazy."
Cole rolls his eyes. "Hardly."
Leo firmly shakes his head. "Yeah, well, we're desperate but not that desperate."
There has to be a catch somewhere. "Why would he think that I would accept an offer like that?" I ask, although deathly afraid to hear the answer, even though I know I must.
For a moment, Cole remains silent.
"Cole? What is it?"
He takes a deep breath and slowly lets it out. "Because it's the only way to bring one of your sisters back to life."
"What?" I scream.
"It's a trick," Leo insists. "He's lying."
Cole firmly shakes his head "No. He's not."
I spin away from Cole to look at Leo. "Leo, my sisters. Go check on my sisters."
I didn’t have to tell him twice; he's already orbed out. Cole makes to put his arms around me, but I wriggle my way out, determined not to believe a word of this.
NO! Leo’s back and the absolute devastation on his face tells me all I need to know. Only losing one person could put that look on his face and when I speak the name of his wife, my sister, and he nods, I lean over, hugging him as tightly as I can.
"You don't have to do this."
I almost smile. Despite his obvious agony, he's still thinking about his charge, about me. And I know what I have to do. I let out a heavy sigh. "Yes, Leo. I do." I turn to Cole. "So, will resetting time affect us down here?" Cole shakes his head. "Good. I only have one condition. You must warn Prue and Piper before the demonic hit man attacks. Otherwise they're dead anyway. And I must be able to watch to be sure that that's what happens. I’ll only stay down here if my sisters remain safe."
"I doubt if he'll agree, but I'll go ask," and he leaves to relay my counter-offer to The Source, while I hug Leo, insisting that everything will be all right. Despite his own suffering, he keeps trying to talk me out of it, reminding me of the last time that we tried to make a pact with evil, a pact that almost precipitated the end of the world. This might not be that drastic, but it would mean the end of The Charmed Ones, forever.
But I've thought this through and I disagree.
"That's not going to happen," I insist. "Look, I promised to stay down here; you didn't. Obviously The Source doesn’t know you are here. If we can still remember what happened, then you can orb back and warn them as soon as the day restarts. Make sure that Piper and Prue don’t leave the Manor and run into Shax outside. Make sure they aren't exposed; make sure that neither of them die."
"But what about you?"
And again I have to smile at his concern for me, his charge. I shrug. "Well, as soon as they're safe, I'm sure they'll find a way to rescue me, right?"
"But he'll just send Shax after all of you again."
"And we'll have The Power of Three to stop him. I won't come back here, Leo; I won't, so if they're attacked again, you'll be able to save them. Everything will be okay, Leo; I swear it will."
But Leo didn't get a chance to reply because Cole's back. "He's agreed. Watch," and he points at one of the rocks. When Leo and I look that way we see it’s glowing. It glows for a moment before images begin appearing and we can see inside a hospital. We watch my oldest sister, tears rolling down her so-pale face, covering our other sister’s face with a sheet. I can also see a SWAT member locked outside, but pointing his gun into the room – at Prue.
No!
He's fired his gun and the bullet is shooting straight through the wall! NO! Both of my sisters can't die!
But the scream has died in my throat because the bullet suddenly stopped in mid-air and then went backwards.
We've all watched in shock as time reversed. Now time has stopped and is going forward again as we watch the Manor door swing open and Prue and Piper rush Paige Matthews, our friend and innocent, inside, stopping at the base of the stairs, all three looking very worried.
The rest of the color drains from my face and my stomach turns as I realize what's about to happen. "No!" I scream. "No! He was supposed to restart the whole day! This is too soon! I'm supposed to be upstairs looking for the spell in The Book of Shadows!"
Cole shakes his head even as I hear Prue's voice and I spin around, back towards the enchanted rock, our window to what's happening in the Manor at this very instant.
“Don’t worry,” Prue is reassuring our innocent. “We’re not going to let anything happen to you."
She nods. “I think I’ve been around you guys long enough to know that you’ll take care of things. What I don’t understand is why I’ve suddenly become a target.”
Prue shrugs. “Comes with the territory.”
Piper nods. “We did tell you that knowing our secret and being friends with us could be hazardous to your health,” and Piper's sarcasm makes me smile. They're alive, thank God, my sisters are alive! But will they remain that way?
“Not to mention all the good that you’ve been doing,” Prue adds. “Clearly The Source seems to think you’re enough of a threat to send his personal assassin after you.”
Paige sighs. “Well isn't that just grea— ” Suddenly she stops, frowning, as she looks towards the stairs.
“What?”
Our innocent wraps her arms around herself. “I don’t know; I just felt a chill.”
"Phoebe, you can't!" Cole cries out as I dart towards the exit, forgetting in my panic that there's no physical exit out of the Underworld. "He only promised to rewind time; he didn't promise to restart the whole day."
I scream again as I watch Prue stare at Paige. “You’ve had feelings like that before when there’s evil around. Maybe he’s coming. We might need The Power of Three; we need Phoebe!” and she calls out my name.
No! That's the warning, but it's much too late! Again I scream. "Leo, you have to take me back!"
“Phoebe, are you there?” Prue's yelling, my unflappable oldest sister beginning to panic a bit. “Phoebe, where are you?"
"Leo, now! I have to be there so I can cast the spell!"
But before he can reach out for my hand, a pack of demons shimmer into the cavern, throwing energy balls at us--at me. Shoving me behind himself, Cole uses his powers to reflect them back and to throw some of his own at the attacking demons. I duck for cover, throwing my leg out to trip an approaching demon, and then back away from the fight, certain that Cole will be able to handle them now that I know that my potion didn't take away his powers, much more worried about my sisters and now intent on watching them and our innocent through the enchanted rock.
Leo throws himself to the ground as an energy ball flies past, but I don’t reach out to help. Not when the enchanted rock now shows a tornado of wind twisting through the Manor's front door, blasting it open. I have to smile as Prue quickly and protectively shoves our innocent behind her, but my smile falters as the tornado send my two older sisters sailing, knocking them to the floor, sending my two sisters sailing. A clap of thunder sounds before the tornado calms down, revealing Shax, the personal assassin of The Source of All Evil.
”No!” Prue screams as she jumps from the floor and shoves our innocent out of the way just in time. But even though the blast of air that Shax has thrown misses his original target, it instead sends my oldest sister literally crashing straight through a wall!
"Leo!" I call urgently as a grimy demon rushes towards me and I box-kick it backwards, but Leo didn’t need further direction as he has already orbed out, even as Cole vanquished the demon attacking my brother-in-law.
I find myself trapped behind a large boulder, unable to make my way towards Cole, who I now realize has been successfully keeping the demons at bay, at least for now. Peeking around the boulder, I look for an opening to help in the battle, but the enchanted rock again catches my eye and returns my attention back to my sisters.
"Prue!" Piper's screaming as she pushes herself up, also trying to protect our innocent. Even as Leo orbs in, Shax throws another blast of air at our innocent. Piper rushes forward and the blast hits her head on, sending her crashing through the same wall so she lands right next to Prue before Leo can say a word.
“Piper!” Leo screams. “Prue!” He rushes towards them, stumbling over the debris from the smashed walls.
"No!" I scream. "What have I done, Cole? What have I done? I've killed both of my sisters!" I turn towards my love, but Cole's not listening. He continues fighting the demons I was determined to ignore as I watched my sisters fight for our innocent’s life.
But now Paige’s scream joins mine as Shax turns towards her. "Leo!" I scream at the wall, "our innocent!" But of course he can't hear me, and he's obviously too concerned, too worried about his wife whose death in the hospital he must still remember. He's already kneeling between my sisters, one of his hands already over each of them.
“Oh, God... ”
Even as Cole vanquished yet another demon and a fire ball flew past my head, singing the tips of my hair, I could hear our innocent pray. But nothing can stop The Source’s assassin. Shax has thrown a third blast of air, this one sending Paige Matthews, my friend and our innocent, crashing into a window, where she ends up hanging upside down, blood pouring from her ears, just like the blood continues to pour from my two sisters’ ears.
OMIGOD!
It's as if Shax knows I'm watching, because he turns to look right at me, smirk plastered on his ugly face as he declares, “It's the end,” as he throws back his arm, ready to pitch another blast of tornadic air.
NO! OH, GOD, PLEASE NO!
Leo looked up from my sisters, who both still have blood pouring from their ears, realizing too late that Shax is the one who spoke, and was unable to protect himself from the blast of air that sent him crashing into a tree. Now I watch in even more horror as he falls limply to the ground. He's unconscious! Unable to help my sisters who are still unconscious, who aren’t healed yet, who are still dying!
OMIGOD! My family needed me. My family needed me and I wasn't there!
Jumping up from my crouched position, I run forward and flip the remaining demon onto his back just as he reached out to throw his energy balls at Cole. Instead, they go flying to the cavern’s ceiling, sending rock crumbling down around us. Having given Cole an opening, my love sends the one remaining demon to his grave.
"Don't worry," and he reaches his arms around me and holds me tightly as I snuggle into his chest. "Leo's already dead. That energy ball can't kill him." The demons are gone and it's taken me a moment to register that he has vanquished them alone while still protecting me. Sometimes I forget how ruthless and resourceful my guy can be in a fight, and how glad I am that he still is despite now being saved. He’s saved, but still my Cole.
"No," I agree, "but now he’s knocked out and now he can't heal my sisters or our innocent."
Movement from the enchanted rock grabs our attention and we watch as Shax looks around, focusing on Leo’s twisted form lying not far from Prue and Piper. Finally, he looked towards the window where Paige is still hanging. Again Shax turns to look at us, smiling his cruel smirk, obviously pleased with his work. Turning back into a tornado of wind, he blows out the front door. The glass on the door smash as it slams shut.
I scream and I screech and I cry and I moan, wondering how I will ever survive without my sisters.
"C'mon," Cole reaches a hand towards me, anger shimmering in his voice. "He sent those demons to kill you and then rewound time in a way that would ensure your sisters’ deaths while making certain that evil wouldn't be exposed, so there's no need for you to keep your promise. I don't know what we can do, but we've got to try to do something. Let's go," and he shimmers us back to the Manor.
As soon as we arrive, I start to run for my sisters, but then I stop. No, innocents have to come first. If there's any chance of saving her… I spin around and run towards the window but quickly skid to a stop. There's no need to hurry. All the blood that ran from Paige’s ears is on the floor. No more drips.
We've failed. Even if Prue and Piper are okay, we've failed. Our innocent is already dead.
Hearing footsteps, knowing that Cole is hurrying towards my sisters to try to save them no matter what they thought of him, I just stand there, staring at my friend, mourning her loss.
I remember meeting her just a few months ago because the son of one of our innocents is one of her clients. As soon as I met Paige, I felt something, like I already knew her. I couldn’t help wondering if maybe I’d known her in a previous life or something. We started talking about her client and my innocent (with me pretending that I was my innocent’s counselor), but there was just such a connection, like the connection that my sisters have always had and that I always wished I shared with them, but never quite had, not even after we became Charmed. They always treated me like the baby of the family, while Paige made me feel like an equal. When she asked me to go out for coffee with her, I immediately agreed and we talked for hours on end. I felt like I had met a friend for life. No, closer than that. It was almost as if she could’ve been a fourth sister.
I brought her home to the Manor and Prue and Piper liked her just as much as I did. When Paige found out that Piper would be married soon and Piper was going to do all the baking, Paige said she loved baking and wanted to help. And when Prue told her that she was going to take all of the pictures, Paige told her that she also loved photography and the two of them had all sorts of fun going through the main floor of the Manor, with Paige oohing over the architecture and helping Prue plan the pictures she wanted to take.
But suddenly she got a strange look on her face and when we asked her what was up, she told us that she often got a funny feeling as if something bad was about to happen and it usually did. No sooner did she say that than a demon showed up. Piper quickly froze everything and we got rid of the demon before Paige unfroze, but it made us wonder. And when just a few weeks later, I had a premonition of another demon going after her, we all knew that she was no longer just a friend, she was also an innocent.
And now that innocent hung before me, dead, killed by The Source of Evil’s own personal assassin, which means she must’ve been a very special person who The Source really wanted dead.
“I’m so sorry, Phoebe.”
At the sound of Cole’s voice, I spin around and throw myself into his arms as I start sobbing.
“I tried to wake up Leo so he could heal them, but that monster must’ve really done a number on him because he’s still out. So then I tried to revive your sisters, but, I’m so sorry, Phoebe, they were already gone.”
“No! No! No! They can’t be. They can’t both be dead! What will I ever do without them?”
He rocks me as I weep and weep before he sets me aside. “I’m going to go call Darryl. If anyone is going to investigate this, I think you want it to be him.”
I nod, wondering how he can be so prosaic at a time like this, but so glad that he can be, since there's no way I’d want to make that call. As he leaves to go to the kitchen, I slowly make my way to my sisters’ bodies.
I stare at Prue, the big sister I’ve admired all my life but at the same time hated so much of my life because everyone always thought that she was so perfect at the same time they thought that I was just a screw-up. Prue was like a substitute mother to Piper and me after Mom died and knowing that Prue also thought that I was a screw-up hurt so much that I became even more of a screw-up just to spite her. Only after we became Charmed did she start to admire me for who I am and what I can do and we were finally able to become close.
And now she's gone.
Next I stare at Piper, the sister who kept in touch with me even after I bailed out on the family and who let me come home when I was broke and jobless. She’s also the one who kept Prue and me from killing each other until we could finally accept each other, as Piper always had faith that we eventually would.
And now she's also gone.
Except for my dad, Leo and Cole, I'm all alone.
What will I ever do?
Suddenly it hit me. I darted up the stairs, shoved open the door and ran into the attic. Because I'm not totally alone! I still have The Book of Shadows! Running to the book that since we became Charmed has been just as much of a family member as my sisters and has never let me down, I start frantically flipping the pages, knowing there's a spell that I've seen before, knowing that it's the one that can fix all of this. I was hoping that maybe someone – Grams, Mom, one of my sisters – I didn’t care who, just so they’d do it – would have flipped it to the right page as so often happened before, but no such luck.
Well, I finally found the page myself and after quickly scanning the directions, I found myself a silver bowl, an athame, and the proper herbs – rosemary, cypress and yarrow root – so glad that Piper keeps a large supply of them up here.
Now I take a deep breath before throwing the herbs into the bowl as I cast the spell to call a lost witch, changing it so it will be a call to two lost witches:
“Powers of this witch now rise
Course unseen across the skies
Come to me, I call both of you near
Come to me and both settle here.”
Then taking the athame, I slice the middle finger of my left hand so that blood can symbolically spill directly from my heart and into the bowl and squeeze a few drops of blood into the bowl over the herbs. As I do, I can’t help remembering how we did this to bring our ancestor, Melinda Warren, back to life and how Piper didn’t want to do that even when I reminded her about how we became blood sisters up at the lake and Piper reminded me of how her finger got infected, even as I complete the spell:
“Blood to blood, I summon both of thee.
Blood to blood, please return to me.”
“I’m sorry, Phoebs, but that’s a Power of Three spell, so it’s not going to work.”
“Prue? Omigod! Prue!”
I don’t care what she said; I’m just overjoyed that I heard my big sister’s voice.
My spell worked! My sisters are alive again!
But when I look up, all of my joy vanishes. My sisters are indeed here, both of them, but both are glowing golden with light while standing in a circle of white light, just like Grams when we summon her, and I know what that means.
Both of my sisters are ghosts!
“Sorry, Phoebs,” Prue repeats. “That’s a Power of Three spell, so that’s not something that you can do now.”
“Nor is it really something we want you to do, Phoebs,” Piper adds. “You’d never believe how beautiful and peaceful it is up there. We don’t want to leave. Mom is there and so is Grams.”
Prue smiles. “And so is Andy. He welcomed me in.”
“And Mark Chao and his dad welcomed me in,” Piper adds with a smile.
I have to smile at the vision my sisters have portrayed. Even as I do, I look at the athame that's still in my right hand and then turn my left arm over and stare at my wrist, thinking how easy it would be.
“Phoebe!” Piper screams. “No! You can’t do that!”
“But why not?" I demand. "Why can’t I join you and Prue and get to be with Mom and Grams and all the others, too? Maybe Melinda Warren will be the one to welcome me in.”
“Because if you kill yourself, no one will welcome you in,” Leo tells me as he walks into the room with Cole, but his eyes are just on Piper. “You’ll be bound to the Earth, unable to see the Light, so unable to join them on the other side.”
Cole comes up and hugs me. “And what would I do without you?”
“We were wrong about him,” Prue admits to my shock. “And he needs you as much as you need him.”
“But how will I ever get along without you two?”
Piper smiles, suddenly looking a bit too much like our grandmother for my liking. “Your destiny awaits.” Now she sounds too much like Grams!
“Destiny?” I exclaim in shock. “My destiny! In case you haven’t noticed our destiny is over!”
“No, Phoebs,” Prue insists. “Ours is, as it was always meant to on this day so you could step out of our shadows. You’re the Charmed One now.”
“But, Prue, I can’t be," I insist. "If I had been the other one killed, you or Piper could’ve because you have active powers. Mine is passive. I’ll be dead the next time Shax shows up before I even blink my eyes!”
And as if to prove my point, we can hear the door downstairs slamming open and the wind blowing up the stairs. I scream even as Cole forms a fireball, but the ghosts of my sisters remain unusually calm.
Even as the tornado appears at the top of the stairs and the thunder crashes, announcing Shax’s imminent appearance, Piper calls out, “Do what I didn’t do, Phoebe! Flick your hands! Quick!”
Huh? Flick my hands like Piper does when she freezes something? I shrugged but did what I was told just as Shax took form and, OMIGOD! The demon actually froze!
The ghosts of my sisters smile and then Prue adds, “Now do what I should’ve done and wave your arm.”
Now I grinned, totally liking this idea as I again did what I was told by one of my sisters and Shax’s frozen form flew across the room and into the wall, not breaking through as my sisters had but still sinking, unconscious, to the floor, just like Leo after he hit the tree.
“Phoebe!" Leo exclaims. "Please tell me you remember the spell to get rid of him.”
As if I could ever forget that one…
"Evil wind that blows,
That which forms below,”
Suddenly cracks of thunder rattle the stained-glass window even as Shax begins to awaken.
“No longer may you dwell,” I continue to chant even as Shax groans. “Death takes you with this spell!"
But rather than exploding as I expected him to do, Shax just went POOF in a puff of white smoke.
I spin to face the ghosts of my sisters, staring at them in shock. “I now have your powers, too?”
Prue smiles. “Well, we sure don’t need them where we are!”
“Your wish has come true,” Piper smirks. “You now have active powers, Phoebs. Two of them!”
“But wait a minute! If I’m now the Charmed One – and I have to admit that that’s pretty darn cool – why did Shax just vanish? You guys know about how we had Tempus turn back time?”
“Of course,” Prue smiles, then turns serious. “You tried to change our destinies. Both Piper and I were supposed to die in that hospital…”
“So then our innocent wasn’t supposed to die.”
“No, Phoebs, she wasn’t,” Piper admits regretfully. “And we found out something. She’s more than our innocent, more than our friend. There's a reason why Andy welcomed Prue in and Mark and his father welcomed me in - Mom was welcoming Paige in.”
I stare at her, totally confused. “Why would Mom welcome Paige…” Then it hits me. “I was right all along - she really is another sister.”
“Half,” Prue puts in. “Mom and Sam’s. Had she lived, she would’ve been able to help you with your destiny, able to use that ability of hers to sense danger.”
“And,” Prue adds with a smile. “Her ability to orb.”
“Whoa. So that’s why The Source sent Shax after her…and, omigod, I set her up….”
“You didn’t know,” Leo comforts me. “Just remember that you didn’t know.”
“No, I didn’t. But now I wish I had.”
“I still don’t get something,” Cole puts in, changing the subject away from someone he hardly knew. “If you two remember what happened in the hospital, you know that the first time Phoebe cast that spell, it didn’t succeed in vanquishing Shax—that it just made him go poof like what just happened.”
“Well, that makes sense,” Piper shrugs. “It’s a Power of Three spell and Prue and I didn’t cast it with her. Just like when Prue and I tried to vanquish him out in the streets without Phoebe.”
“But,” Cole continues, “if she now has have all three powers…”
“You didn’t hear what I told her earlier,” Prue interrupts. “Phoebs might be the Charmed One now, but she’s still only one. It still takes three sisters descended from Melinda Warren to cast a Power of Three spell. She’s just the Power of One and that’s only a third as powerful as the Power of Three.”
“She’s right, Phoebe,” Leo tells me. “You still can’t cast Power of Three spells, but you can use your powers to make higher-level demons go poof.” Suddenly he looks up. “The Elders. They’re calling. I’ll be right back,” and he orbs out.
“I’m afraid we have to go pretty soon, too.” Prue sighs regretfully. “And unlike Leo, we won’t be back, at least not right away.”
“No!” I scream. “No! You just got here! You can’t leave.”
“You know how long Grams can stay with us when we summon her,” Piper reminds me. “It’s the same for us. We can only stay for a short time and we will always have to stay within this circle, except for very special occasions,” and she smiles at Cole. “Like a wedding…hint, hint, hint!”
“I’m afraid it’s going to be like Leo’s healing," Again Prue sighs. "They’ll only let us come when you actually need us.”
“But I’ll always need you two!” I moan.
“No, you won’t,” Prue insists. “You keep depending on us, you’ll never be able to actually grow and become what you truly are.”
“And,” Piper adds, “don’t forget that you have to let us be able to enjoy our own reward that we’ve earned.”
“We’ll help you get used to your new powers,” Prue explains, “the way Leo helped us when we first got ours, but that’s really about it.”
“But…”
“No, Phoebs,” Piper insists. “You have Cole now, and you have Leo. With them you’ll be just fine.”
“Especially because you won’t have to worry about The Source anymore,” Leo announces as he orbs back in.
Cole and I spin to face him, the shock I see on Cole's face reflecting my own. "We won't?"
“No. The Elders just had a conference with some of The Source’s most powerful minions. Since The Source now knows that you can't destroy Shax, which means you can’t destroy him, he's going to call a truce and leave both you and Cole alone – he thinks that you having to live without your sisters is enough of a punishment.”
Both Prue and Piper smile so large it's surprising that their faces don’t split. “You see, Phoebs?” Prue asks. “You’re going to be just fine. Blessed be, Charmed One. Blessed be, little sis. Take good care of her, Cole.”
“Blessed be, Phoebs,” Piper adds, then turns to smile lovingly at Leo. “See you Up There real soon. Just before we were summoned, I got to see how happy Mom was when Sam came to visit her now that he’s a whitelighter again. I'm sure I’ll feel the same way each time you visit me.”
Leo smiles back. “Whenever I’m not taking care of a charge, especially this one,” and he smiles at me.
Even as he spoke, white sparkling lights have appeared and now circle around my two ghostly sisters. When the lights vanish so do the ghosts and the circle they were standing in.
I turn to look at Leo and Cole. “But if The Source isn’t going to bother me anymore, what happened to my destiny?”
But before either of them can answer, we hear the doorbell. Leo smiles. “Maybe there’s your answer.”
“Well, who could that be?” I wonder. "Darryl?"
"No, he wasn't at the station when I called," Cole tells me before he smiles as he takes my hand. “C'mon. Let’s go find out.”
So the three of us have gone downstairs and now I opened the front door to find a blonde teenager. “Hello. Are you the Halliwells?” she asks.
I smirk as I glance at Leo and Cole. “Well, they’re not, but I'm one of them,” not quite ready to admit to a stranger that I'm the last of the Halliwells.
“Well, my mom and dad are witches and they said that you’re the Charmed Ones and that you might be able to help us.”
“What sort of help do you need?” Leo asks.
“My older sister was kidnapped ten years ago and today I had my first-ever premonition – the first time I’ve had any sort of power - and I could see her in a cave.”
I gasp and then turn to Leo. “But I thought The Source was going to…”
“He wasn’t going to send demons after you.” Cole's the one who reminds me. “That doesn’t mean other demons won’t go after innocents.”
I give him a big, bright smile. “Of course. Innocents. Piper was right. My destiny does await – taking over our destiny of protecting and helping innocents with your and Leo's help.” I turn to our new innocent. “Tell us all about your sister and what happened to her so we can figure out what we can do to help.”
The End
So?? What do you think?
