2016
It was Friday. The week had been spent being as normal as possible (Piper didn't want to have to explain yet another absence to three different schools), but also feeling worried, apprehensive, and in some cases uncertain.
And tomorrow they were going to do it.
Leo watched as Piper pottered around in the kitchen. He was worried about her. She she hadn't said anything else to him about what had happened with Phoebe, but he could see it was still bothering her. She blamed herself for Phoebe becoming evil, and Leo wasn't sure she would be able to do what she had to do if she was wracked with guilt like this. But she wouldn't talk to him, she wouldn't talk to Paige, she wouldn't even talk to her mother.
He could only think of one more thing to try.
* * *
"I don't know, Leo. It's kinda against the rules."
"But she needs this. Anyway, since when have you cared about rules?"
"Since I had a lot of time to study them and think about how most of them actually make sense. Like how she should move on before she sees me. And both you and I know that she hasn't."
"It's been fifteen years!"
"That doesn't change anything."
"Well maybe this will help her move on. Please, I don't know what else to do. If she suddenly changes her mind tomorrow..."
There was a pause. And then a sigh.
"Okay. But if the Elders kick up a fuss..."
"I know, I know, it's all my fault. Thanks, Prue."
Prue smiled.
* * *
"Piper?" Leo opened the door to the attic and called down the stairs. "Could you come up here a minute?"
Piper put the spoon down and sighed. These cookies would never get done if Leo kept interrupting her. "Coming!" she said, leaving the kitchen and going upstairs.
When she opened the attic door there was no sign of Leo. But there was someone else. Piper stared.
"Prue?" she asked, her voice catching in her throat.
"Hi sweetie." Prue, slightly transparent as most ghosts were, smiled at her little sister and sat down on the couch. "Why don't you sit down?"
Piper came over slowly, not taking her eyes off Prue. She was having a hard time grasping the fact that she was here, that she was finally seeing her big sister again. She sat down tentatively. "Wh-, wha...?" she managed.
"What am I doing here?" Prue gave her sister another reassuring smile, since taking her hand wasn't really a possibility. "Leo asked me to come. He said you needed someone to talk to."
"Talk about what? There's nothing to talk about..."
"Oh really," said Prue, her tone serious. She looked Piper square in the face. "Not even Phoebe?"
Piper looked down and bit her lip.
"Ah, you see? Now come on, tell me what's going on in your head."
Piper opened her mouth, not knowing where to start. "I..."
"Phoebe," Prue said, sensing her sister's dilemma. "Tell me what comes into your mind when I say 'Phoebe'."
Piper's mouth stayed open for a second, then she closed it and slowly shook her head. "She's my sister..." She looked back up at Prue. "She's my sister and I'm supposed to kill her tomorrow."
Prue gave her sister an encouraging look, urging her to continue.
"And it's all my fault." Piper said, avoiding Prue's eyes for a second. "It's my fault she's evil and it's my fault she's going to die."
"How can it possibly be your fault?"
"I murdered her baby, Prue!" Piper raised her voice as she wiped away a tear which had started to form in her eye. "Not only that, I actually persuaded her to let me do it!"
"But isn't that a good thing? That she gave her consent?"
"No, Prue, you don't understand!" Piper looked around the room, then sighed and stood up. "I used her confused state of mind to make her agree to something she never would have otherwise, just to make myself feel better about doing something I knew was wrong!"
"You did what it said in the Book of Shadows, what could possibly be more right than that?"
"My instinct, that's what!" Piper pointed at her own chest to illustrate her point. "The instinct that was telling me that this was an innocent little baby who had never done anything to hurt anyone-"
"- Except Paige -" Prue interjected. Piper didn't seem to hear her.
"-and who deserved a chance to prove himself just like everyone else. I mean, you of all people, Prue, should understand about putting instinct above rules!"
"Yeah, and look where that got me..." Prue muttered. "Piper, you did what you thought was best."
"No I didn't. I just followed the rules. With Paige it's forgivable, you know? She'd only been a witch a few months, but I should've known better! I should've let him live, then Phoebe would still be good and all this wouldn't be happening," said Piper, becoming more emotional with each word.
"Okay," said Prue in her let's-be-reasonable voice. "But what's to say that Phoebe wouldn't have become evil anyway? The death of her baby wasn't the reason for her turning, Piper, it was just the final push. The actual reason is far more complicated. In fact it probably started when I died, though I don't think Cole's now-I'm-evil-now-I'm-not routine could've helped much... But with all those things that push could just as easily have been something else. What if Phoebe's premonition had come true, what if Pyralis had been killed by her own brother? Or what if he had killed Phoebe, too, what if he had killed all of you? He could've become the most powerful Source ever, even more powerful than Cole and Phoebe are now. You could have lost a lot more than you have."
"But that still doesn't change the fact that I killed a baby!"
"I know. But it does mean that what you did was the best course of action." A small grin appeared on Prue's face. "The most... prudent."
A little smile started to tug at Piper's lips. Then she shook her head. "I just miss you and Phoebe so much..."
"I know, sweetie. I know. But I'm here now. I've always been here. They just wouldn't let you see me until now."
"Now that they're scared my love for my sister is stronger than my sense of duty."
Prue looked away.
"It's okay, Prue... They may be right. I just don't seem to know right from wrong anymore."
"Piper... You just can't let yourself think of Phoebe as our sister now. The sister we knew is gone, and she's not coming back, however much we may want to believe that she is." Prue looked across the attic to a picture of the three of them which was standing on a table. She sighed. "But the Phoebe we knew would want you to do this. She would have seen what she's become as a fate worse than death."
* * *
Pyralis hurried down the stairs as quietly as she could. She had just gotten home and had gone up to the attic to check something in the Book of Shadows when she had heard voices. Piper's voice, and another she had never heard before. So she had listened. And what she had heard had finally made her have enough of not knowing. It had also given her an idea.
She closed the door to her room behind her and pulled the drawer from under her bed. She took the clothes off the top and opened the old wooden box underneath it. From the box she took paper, an old tin bowl, five candles, a cigarette lighter and a small knife. In her mind she put the finishing touches on her spell as she arranged the candles and lit them. Then she cut her right index finger and said the spell as she wrote a date on a piece of paper with the blood.
"Hear these words, hear my cry
Help me break the bonds of time
Bring my mother here to me
Her spirit from the date I write"
She picked up a candle and set the rolled up piece of paper on fire, throwing it into the bowl. Then she put the candle back in place and waited.
A cold wind started to blow in the room and Pyralis suddenly heard what sounded like whispering coming from all around her. She shivered.
Then the wind and whispering vanished, and there was a woman standing in the center of the room. It was Phoebe.
Phoebe blinked rapidly and shook her head. "Wha, wha... Who are you?" She looked around. "And what have you done to my bedroom?"
"I'm Pyralis. And this is my bedroom now."
"Pyralis?" Phoebe stared at her daughter in disbelief. "But you're only..." She motioned with her hands.
"Two weeks old, yeah. I wanted to get a you from after I was born but before Prue died."
"What? What do you mean, before Prue died?"
Pyralis sighed. Patience had never been one of her strong points. "Why don't you sit down?" she said, sitting on the bed herself. "I'll explain."
Phoebe obeyed, still looking a little confused.
"Okay." Pyralis nodded. "The year is 2016, and I brought you here because I wanted to see what you were like for myself. I mean, everyone's always saying how great you were, but I've never really been able to believe that, because if you were that good then why would you leave me?"
"What do you mean?"
"My dad became the Source and you left me here while you went off to be his Queen and rule the underworld with him."
Phoebe laughed nervously. "This is some kind of joke, right?"
Pyralis didn't say anything.
Phoebe turned serious again. "It's not a joke, is it?"
"I wish it was."
"So..." Phoebe shook her head. "Prue died?"
"Yeah... not long after I was born. A demon called Shacks killed her. She said just now that that was probably was started making you evil."
"Just now?"
"Yeah. Her ghost did, anyway. She was trying to convince Piper to kill you."
"What?!"
"Well, we kinda have to. Cole's the most powerful Source ever. You have no idea what kind of things he's done. And you've done, for that matter."
"Like what?"
"Like killing Paige's husband, for one!"
"Who the hell is Paige?"
"Ohhh, that's right, you don't know her yet. Paige is your younger sister, and it's a long story."
"Okay, let me get this straight. Prue's dead, and we've got a new sister instead?"
Pyralis shrugged. "If that's the way you want to put it."
"And me and Cole are evil and rule the underworld."
Pyralis nodded.
"And you're going to kill us?"
Pyralis nodded again. "Tomorrow."
"Tomorrow?!" Phoebe got up and walked a few paces. "I don't believe this. Why did you bring me here again?"
"I told you... I've never met you, not properly. I wanted to."
Pyralis looked up at her mother, and for the first time Phoebe actually looked back properly. And what she saw in her daughter's eyes scared her.
There was strength there, and courage, and defiance. But there were also other things. Fear. Anger. Hatred. Vulnerability. And a terrible sadness that made Phoebe want to cry.
She stood there, mouth open, and didn't know what to say.
Pyralis looked away. "I'll send you back now if you like."
"No." Phoebe sat back down and took her daughter's hand. "I... I don't want to go back yet."
Pyralis stared at her. "Okay..." she said, a little surprised.
"So," said Phoebe, "What can I do to make things better?"
"Nothing." Pyralis shook her head. "The damage was done a long time ago,"
"But if I know what happens... When I go back, maybe I can make things turn out differently."
"No!" Pyralis looked up, alarmed. "You can't change something this big. Besides, it's wrong. I don't do things like that."
"But-"
"No. It's my destiny, I shouldn't fight it."
Phoebe smiled, amazed. "Wow. I can't believe I have such a rule-abiding daughter."
Pyralis laughed. "What, you think me bringing you here isn't against the rules?"
"Good point. How did you bring me here, anyway?"
"I wrote a spell," Pyralis said, shrugging.
"All by yourself? At, what, fifteen?"
"Well, yeah." She laughed. "I mean, I've been this family's designated spell-writer practically since I learned to talk. I write poems too, but they're not as useful."
"Poems? Can I see?"
"I dunno... I don't really feel comfortable having people read them."
"Not even your mom?" Phoebe pleaded.
"Especially not my mom." Pyralis looked at her mother thoughtfully. "You know, I've never called anyone 'mom' before. Well, except once. I was about five, and I called Piper 'mommy'. But then Prue - Piper's daughter Prue - came, and she grabbed Piper's leg and hugged her and she said: 'She's my mommy, not yours!'" She shrugged. "So I never did that again."
"Aw, sweetie..." Phoebe pulled her daughter into a hug. "You can call me mom anytime you like."
Pyralis smiled. "Thanks. I guess I'd better send you back now. It's almost supper time, and if Piper catches me doing this she will kill me." She got off the bed and went over to her desk to get a potion out of a drawer. "Here, drink this," she told her mother.
Phoebe stood up. "What is it?"
"It'll wipe your memory for the last ten minutes." Pyralis gave Phoebe the potion and she examined it. "I don't want to risk changing the past."
Phoebe looked uncertain. "Are you sure it won't kill me or turn me into a vampire bat or something?" she asked, only half joking.
"Don't you trust me?"
Phoebe hesitated for a moment, looking at the bottle. Then she shook her head. "You're right, I'm being silly."
"Drink it, then," Pyralis told her, trying not to get impatient.
Phoebe looked at the potion once more, then uncorked the bottle and drank it.
"Okay." Pyralis took the bottle back and put it on her desk, then turned back to her mother. "It'll take effect in a moment." She stared at Phoebe, suddenly uncomfortable. "Bye then..." she said quietly.
Phoebe came over and gave her a hug. "Love you," she said. "Make me proud, okay?"
Pyralis suddenly felt the unbearable urge to cry. She tried not to show it as she stood back, smiled, and said the spell to send Phoebe back:
"Hear these words, hear me cry
Help me heal the bonds of time
Send my mother, body and soul
Back to their rightful date"
The cold wind and whispering started up again, then vanished just as quickly. And Phoebe vanished with them.
Wiping her eyes with her hand, Pyralis hurriedly cleared the floor of all evidence of her spell. Then she sat on the bed, just staring into space, letting the tears run silently down her cheeks. She didn't move until Piper knocked on the door a good thirty minutes later.
"Yes?" she said, wiping her eyes. The dried tears were making them itch.
"Supper's ready," said Piper, opening the door.
Pyralis blinked in the bright light coming through the doorway. She hadn't realized how dark it had gotten in her room.
"Have you been crying?" Piper asked, concerned.
"No." Pyralis quickly got up off the bed and walked out of the room. "I don't do crying."
Downstairs, the rest of the family were already at the table as Piper and Pyralis took their seats. Starting to eat, Pyralis noticed that everyone was being awfully quiet, even Phillip and Kalinda. This was obviously affecting them all more than they were letting on.
"Could you pass me the ketchup?" Phyre asked Prue.
Prue handed it to her without a word. Normally she would have made fun of her sister putting ketchup on rice, but not today.
"Thank you," Phyre said quietly. she started shaking the bottle. Unfortunately she had forgotten to put her thumb on the lid.
The bottle sprung open and a load of ketchup flew out, making a huge red gooey stripe across the floor and up the wall.
Phyre stared at the bottle in her hand, mouth open.
Prue snorted. Phillip and Kalinda giggled. Then everyone started laughing.
"Well, ketchup certainly makes a change from demon insides being splattered all over the wall!" Paige said in-between laughs.
"Ohh, I'm going to have to clean that!" Piper pretended to be upset.
"Hey, leave it until we get back tomorrow," Prue told her. "If we get killed we won't need a clean wall anyway."
There were more laughs before the family calmed down.
"You know," said Paige thoughtfully, "Our lives are going to change drastically tomorrow, for better or worse."
"Well let's hope it's the first option." Piper smiled.
Pyralis watched her curiously. It looked like her talk with Prue had really made a difference.
"Let's drink a toast," Leo was saying. He raised his glass of lemonade. "To the future."
Everyone else raised their assorted beverages. "To the future!" they chorused.
Then Phillip and Kalinda started a food fight. The rest of the family soon joined in, and it was with smiles that they finally left the table.
With one exception.
"Where are you going?" Piper asked Pyralis. Everyone else was in the kitchen helping with the dishes.
"Out." Pyralis had just been about to open the door when Piper had noticed her.
"Pyralis..."
"Piper, this might very well be the last night of my life. If it is, I want to spend it having fun." And she left before Piper could say anything else.
Fun, however, was the last thing on her mind at the moment. She couldn't stop thinking about her mother, and the more she thought about her, the more confused she became. She needed something to distract herself.
Which is why, half an hour later, she was sat on a wall with some friends, drinking stolen beer. However, distraction was not to be, because she was only halfway through her first can when a man came around the corner.
"Hello, children," he said, a grin appearing on his slightly wrinkled face.
"Who the hell are you?" asked Dave, a tall boy sitting on Pyralis' left.
"My name is Elkor." Suddenly he raised his hands, and a blue lightning bolt shot from each of his fingers. When he lowered them again, Pyralis was the only one left standing.
"I suppose you're going to feed on their flesh now?" she said, standing up and looking at him defiantly.
"Not right now. I have more important things to do."
He grabbed her wrist. She didn't flinch, and didn't break the stare.
"Come on," Elkor growled, tightening his grip. "Your parents want to
see you."
Author's note: Very difficult chapter to write... I hope it came out okay. I also hope my characterization of Prue was okay... I started writing that scene and then freaked out because I realized I had never written Prue before! Anyway, please tell me what you think :)