Once Charmed
At 129 Prescott Street in San Francisco, the street was lined with cars as the people entered the manor to pay their respects to the former occupants. The wake was held by Victor Halliwell, along with a group of cousins. However, what most of the public did not know was that the sisters weren't dead. After the battle with Zankou, the sisters, tired of the endless battles, took the opportunity to go into hiding by taking on a new appearance. The funeral was relatively calm, except for a quick appearance of Janice Dickinson who was mourning Paige. While the "cousins" dragged Janice Dickinson into the manor kitchen, Victor continued to oversee to the mourners.
After berating Paige on her abuse to glamour as a celebrity, Paige heard a jingle in her head and she decided to look out into the parlor and living room, on a hunch that it could be an innocent among the mourners. Her sisters looked around with her and Paige took notice of someone.
"Guys, who's that," Paige asked, pointing to a red haired woman wearing a black dress for the funeral. She stood at Paige's photo and placed a flower before it and let out a few tears, paying her respects.
"You don't know her?" Phoebe said to Paige.
"No, I've never seen her before."
Leo looked out the door, "I saw her at Phoebe and Piper's urns as well. I just thought she might have been an old friend."
"She does seem a little familiar," Piper said, looking at the mourner. "But right now we need to get back to our disguises. C'mon, back inside," she said, pulling Phoebe and Paige back into the kitchen.
After she placed the last flower at Paige's station, the woman turned to see Victor Bennett standing in the foyer "Excuse me?" she asked Victor, "You were their father, right?"
"Yes," Victor said, trying to continue to play the grieving parent.
"And one of them left behind children?"
"Yes, two boys," he said, suspiciously "I'm going to be raising them now, with their father gone as well."
"He's missing?" she looked at him with worry.
"The police believe he died in the explosion as well."
"I'm so sorry," she said, looking back at the photos hanging on the walls of the sisters together, "No child should lose their parents at such a young age," she said, some tears escaping her eyes.
"I'm sorry. You seem familiar, how do- did you know them?"
"Oh, sorry. The name's Heather Walsh. I knew them a life time ago. I wish I got a chance to see them one last time."
"Yes, such a devastating loss," a man intruded into the conversation, "Sadly, I only knew them only by reputation."
"Excuse me?" the Heather said, "We were talking."
"I'm sorry. I just have some business with Mr. Bennett."
"Business?" Victor asked.
"Paul Haas," the man said, handing Victor a business card.
"You're a real estate agent?" Victor asked.
"Yes, I figure in this difficult time, you might want someone to take this house off your hands," Haas said.
"I've never said anything about selling," Victor said.
"I figure having to raise two boys all by yourself, you might be interested in perhaps selling this house. Such a place seems too big for a small, and broken family. And with the history of this house, all the deaths, I thought you might need help selling-"
"Are you serious?" Heather said angrily, "The man is mourning his daughters and you have the nerve to talk to him about selling his daughters' house at their funeral!"
"It's okay," Victor said. He handed the card back to Haas, "It's not for sale. Now, get out."
Haas took the card back, "Again my condolences." He walked out, while Heather was still glaring behind him until he was out of sight.
"The nerve of some people," Heather said, suddenly realizing her manners, "I'm sorry about that. I shouldn't have said anything."
"It's alright. I appreciate it," he said.
After casting the glamour over themselves, the sisters began to start try to merge into their new identities, though some things they had to keep in their lives. They would still live in the same house, and Piper, under the new identity maintained the club, since it was the only revenue they had for now.
Phoebe had a more difficult time trying to start her new life. Unlike Piper, she was renowned and trying to start over with a new career would be more challenging. True that she casted the spell to allow them to no longer need to start from scratch with brand new resumes, but she had to find a new career away from the people she enjoyed working with every day.
Paige was facing challenges of her own. While she knew the Elders were oblivious to their survival, Paige was still hearing the call of a charge, which was strange, since she was never assigned one after the death of her previous one. But throughout the funeral, she kept hearing a ringing in her head, like someone was calling to her.
After failing to stop a mugger, she had enough of the jingle and decided to orb to the one calling to her.
Heather pulled out a crystal and a map and began to scry for evil in the city. She knew that now with the Charmed Ones dead, the demons would soon make their move on the surface. While she might not have the Power of Three, she had the responsibility to keep these demons where they belonged: in the Underworld or in the Wasteland. The crystal stopped at a point downtown and she gathered her belongings. She changed her clothes, putting on a violet long-sleeve shirt, jeans, shoes, and a leather jacket. She folded up the map and put it and the crystal away in her room.
Paige teleported into a movie theater, where she found a demon tormenting a patron.
"What are you doing," Paige said, interrupting the demon.
"You don't have the power to stop me, whitelighter," the demon said, using his demonic speed to push Paige against the wall, causing her to fall. He conjured a fireball, preparing to kill Paige, but before he could launch it-
"Hey," someone shouted at him. He turned to see Heather who had just entered the theater, "Why don't you pick on someone your own size."
The demon threw a fireball at Heather, but she ducked, escaping the projectile. She got up from behind the seats and he launched another fireball at her. She raised her hands and deflected the fireball at him, though he dodged out of the way. She swung her arm and the demon went flying near the front of the theater. By this point, the patrons saw smoke in the theater and began to evacuate. Paige came to in time to see Heather chase after the demon out the exit of the theater.
"How can you be so careless," Phoebe said, "We agreed to try to live a normal life, and you go after a demon?"
"In my defense, he didn't think I was a witch. He thought I was just a whitelighter." Paige said, "Look, I tried to get out and see the world in a new light, but I kept hearing that jingle, and I figured-"
"Paige we talked about this," Piper said, "No more magic."
"And what am I supposed to do, ignore a call for help?"
"Exactly," Phoebe said, "If we are discovered, we're screwed."
"Well, I'm sorry, but I can't just ignore a charge calling for me," Paige said.
"Regardless, she's not our responsibility," Piper said.
"Well, she's MY responsibility," Paige shouted, causing them to step back. She took a deep breath, looking down in despair, "Just forget it. I'm sorry."
"Paige, talk to us, please. What is it," Piper asked, now looking worried, along with Phoebe.
"It's just that this jingling isn't something I can just turn off. You guys can start new lives, but I am still part whitelighter. It's who I am. I hear this jingle, someone calling for my help, and I can't just ignore it." She rubbed her head, hearing it again, "Especially now. It sounds very close."
"How close," Phoebe asked.
They suddenly heard a crash down stairs and they rushed out of the attic to investigate.
Still dressed in her street clothes, Heather was looking outside the Halliwell Manor from her car. She learned much after the demon attacked the movie theater.
She chased after the demon out of the theater and through the ally. He threw another fireball, forcing her to take cover behind a dumpster. She peaked out from behind it, and waved her hand, sending a large blast of telekinetic energy at the demon. He hit the wall and collapsed. He struggled getting up, and another demon teleported beside him.
"Still want to have fun, or are you ready to get serious," the demon, Haas, said to the other demon. They both teleported away, and Heather, recognizing Haas, knew Victor could be in danger.
She looked out into the window of the house and saw bursts of light illuminate though the living room window. She heard blasts and crashes coming from inside.
"Oh my god," she said and rushed out of the car. She climbed the steps and pushed open the front door. She saw four demons, including Haas and the demon from the theater, standing in the living room, with Haas holding a dagger to Victor's throat, facing Heather.
"You walked into the wrong house," Haas says.
She just glared at him, "That will be the last thing you ever do."
A demon charged at her, and Heather waved her arm, sending the demon flying off the ground, onto the dining room table. Another demon threw an energy ball at her, but with a flick of her wrist, she deflected the ball at the demon in the dining room, vanquishing him. Haas motioned to the other demon who she met earlier, and he ran at her. She kicked him over the head, and channeled a powerful telekinetic blast through her palm, hitting him point-blank in the chest, sending him flying, and immediately upon hitting the wall, he was vanquished. Suddenly, the dagger against Victor's throat was quickly removed from the Haas's hand and moved into Heather's hand. She threw the dagger at the other demon, and telekinetically pulled it back to her hand as he was vanquished.
"One move and I break his neck," Haas yelled at her, holding Victor's head in a choke hold. She looked at him, giving him a look of fury. She looked at the lamp behind Haas and squinted her eyes, causing a lamp to move, smashing against the demons head and causing him to release Victor. She raised her hand holding the dagger and opened her hand, releasing the dagger as it glided smoothly through the air, impaling Haas in the neck, vanquishing him.
She ran to the man, "Are you alright?"
"Yes," he said, rubbing his neck, coughing, "Who are you?"
"I'll explain it to you later. Here let me help."
"Don't worry," he said, pushing her gently away and placing himself on the couch, "My nieces are here."
"Wait, your nieces?" she said in a curious tone. She looked up at the stairs and saw three women standing on the stairway, looking down at her. Her eyes widened, as her mouth remained open but speechless.
"Who are you," Piper questioned.
Heather tried to say something but when she opened her mouth, nothing came out. So she did the one thing she could think of: She ran out. She heard Piper and Phoebe about to follow her, and once she was out of the house, she flicked her wrist, still running, and caused the manor do to close. She got into her car and sped away from the house.
After Victor went to bed, the sisters stayed up, discussing what they witnessed.
"I saw her at our funeral. She was mourning all of us," Piper said.
"So that's where you saw her," Phoebe said.
"I don't think so," Paige said, "I felt it at the funeral too."
"Actually…" Piper said, "You weren't the only one. I didn't know who she was but I also felt like I knew her."
"Me too," Phoebe said.
"So, we need to find out who she is," Paige concluded.
"No…" Piper said slyly, "You find out. She is your charge after all."
"Wait, how can she be my charge? She didn't look like she was in danger."
"Yes, but she appeared both times you answered the jingle. She's definitely your charge. And you said yourself: She's your responsibility."
"But I don't even know who she is."
Heather rushed back into her apartment. She went to her bedroom and closed the door, and she sat on the bed, in shock from the events of the day.
'I don't believe it' she thought, 'They're alive. Oh my god. They're alive.' She began to cry and laugh at the same time as she kept replaying the memory in her head. She heard a knock on her bedroom door, and heard a voice calling her. She approached the door and saw the mirror hanging on it. She looked in the mirror and whispered,
Ancient powers I command this task,
For my true image to be unmasked.
Orbs shimmered around her, and in place stood the woman known as Prue Halliwell. She opened the door, "Hey, Cassy, what's up?"
"I just wanted to see how you were. How was the funeral?"
"It was very enlightening," Prue said, "I'm going to turn in now."
"Alright," Cassy said, walking away, "We can talk tomorrow."
"Yeah sure. Good night."
Prue closed the door, thinking of the possibilities tomorrow will have.
Okay, so this is a rough draft for a new take on Season 8 of Charmed. Instead of random Billie, we get Prue's return. I admit that I am struggling writing for all the characters so if I do continue, it will most likely be sparingly. I will definitely be changing the structure of the season, as well as removing some characters because of this shift. I'm not even sure I will keep this story up, but I just felt like posting it.