Exhausted. That was pretty much the only way to describe Primrose Halliwell was feeling or rather Prim as she much preferred given that she detested her first name Primrose as her parents so cruelly named her. It was a tradition in Prim's family for everyone's first name to begin with P, this had been dating back for a few generations although most of Prim's relatives had normal first names that began with P except for her. Prim often wondered why on earth her parents had given her such an odd name, maybe it's because her mother had been obsessed with flowers or it was the only alternative they could come up with to the other name they had in mind; Persephone which was the name of some greek goddess who had a fondness for pomegranates or something like that. Prim's mother didn't even like pomegranates in fact she was allergic to them, which made this whole thing all the more unusual. Prim had always known that her parents had been weird which is why they probably gave her a name that was the furthest thing from normal. Hence why Primrose had been going by Prim since the age of eight much to her family's dismay. Awkwardly making her way into her apartment Prim dropped all her shopping bags to the floor before making her way to the fridge, not bothering to shut the front door behind her. Prim was felt dead on her feet after all the shopping she had done, looking at all the bags she realized that maybe she had overdone it ever so slightly but Prim reasoned that it was worth it because Primrose Grace Halliwell had just bagged her first real grown up job! After years of slaving away as a waitress and bartended through college and a further year of working all hours to support herself and get her work out, it had finally happened. Prim had got a job, her first real and proper job as an illustrator. Hence the huge shopping trip to celebrate it.
But now Prim was beat after spending most of the afternoon shopping, not to mention dehydrated so she headed straight to her fridge to grab a bottle of water to quench her thirst. Prim felt incredibly happy, there was a lightness in her heart that hadn't been there for a while. Things in her life were going well and all her hard work seemed to be paying off and there was a big old goofy grin on Prim's face as she took a sip of her bottle of water before taking a seat on one of her kitchen stools in order to rest her aching feet. Prim hadn't been sitting for more than thirty seconds when she was alerted to her house phone ringing, ever so reluctantly Prim reached for the cordless phone that was sitting at the breakfast bar and looking at the id she saw that it was The Manor. The affectionate name given to the Halliwell family home, where Prim had grown up so it only meant that one of her three older cousins was calling her as they were the only ones who lived there now. Prim had to admit that she was surprised that this was the second call within a week that she was receiving from The Manor as usually she talked to her cousins perhaps once a week but she wasn't going to complain. It just made it easier for Prim to share her good news with the people mattered most to her.
"Two calls in one week, well aren't I a lucky girl…" Prim began in a cheerful manner, more than happy to spend sometime nattering away to one of her cousins since they were in San Francisco whilst she still lived in Rhode Island. Her cousins were the only family that Prim had and they had been more like sisters to her. Prim had been expecting a response from the other end but there was nothing, well there was something as she could hear the sound of someone's breathing on the other end of the phone so clearly someone was there. "Hello? Any Halliwell there…"
"P-Primrose? It's me Phoebe…"
Prim couldn't help but frown at the use of her full name to the point where she pulled the phone away from her ear to actually look at it in disgust for a brief moment. She hated being called Primrose and her family never called her by her full first name, well except for her Grams who insisted on calling her by that retched name of Primrose. But her grandmother had been dead for years after having a heart attack and falling down the attic stairs at The Manor. Apart from that Prim was Prim and her family called her Primrose. In fact the last time anyone in her family called her by her actual first name was from the hospital after Grams had her heart attack and even then that was Prue. But it was Phoebe on the phone and Phoebe never called her Primrose, it was Phoebe who had come up with Prim for her younger sullen cousin who had hated her first name with a passion. Something was wrong. It had to be, something had to have happened as it was the only way to explain why Phoebe was acting so weird and calling her Primrose. "Phoebe, what is it? What's going on?"
"You need to sit down." Phoebe began and Prim could hear the emotion in her cousins voice, something was really wrong. Whatever it was, Prim could be certain that it was something pretty bad for Phoebe to be this upset.
"Phoebe tell me what's going on! Phoebe you're scaring me…"
"Prue's dead."
She still couldn't believe it. Furiously wiping her tears as she stood outside the Manor after pretty much driving nonstop for the last 48 hours from providence after receiving the news about what had happened. Prue was dead. Prue of all people was dead, it didn't seem real at all. Prim just wanted to wake up and find out that all of this was a very bad nightmare and that Prue was alive and well but that wasn't going to happen, deep down in her heart Prim knew that Prue was dead and never going to come back and the pain was unbearable. Prim had Phoebe explain what had happened and it was because of a demon, Prue was another Halliwell witch killed by a demon just like her mother Phillipa and her Aunt Patty. Prim could still recall Phoebe telling her how the demon that killed Prue was the personal assassin of the source of all evil. The whole situation had been complicated, involving going back and forth through time and Prim didn't want to know the details, she had turned her back on magic years ago for good reason and yet again it had taken someone she had loved. That was the main reason why Prim kept a safe distance from San Francisco and magic in general because she didn't want anything to do with magic. Prim had abandoned her magic heritage was she 18 and leaving for college whilst her cousins had embraced their magical destiny as the Charmed Ones just over three years ago.
Prim had been a witch from birth born to Phillipa Halliwell and her husband Everett Perry but when she was a child her powers had been bound like her cousins. However Prim came into her powers on her eighteen birthday and that's when she found out the truth about who she was, who her family was and she had been instructed in her craft by her Grams and her father. Prim had thought being a witch was pretty cool at first, she thought it was awesome having magical powers but she found out what costs came with being a witch. Both her mother Phillipa and her twin sister Patty had both been killed by demons because they were witches but the final straw for Prim came when her father Everett died nine months after Prim came into her powers from an energy ball to the chest. There were real dangers in being a witch especially when you were a Halliwell witch that came from an incredibly long line of Warren witches. When the reality of that began to set in Prim had a very difficult time deal with the whole prospect of being a witch and having to live her life battling with demons. After her father died Prim turned her back on magic and her magical heritage and headed off to Rhode Island for college.
Prim sighed as she stood outside The Manor, she hadn't been here since Grams had died, well she had come home once after when her cousins had come into their own powers and discovered that they were witches. Prim wasn't sure whether or not she could go inside, into the place she knew that Prue had died. The Manor was a place that Prim had loved, she been born in the Manor and had grown up there, she had wonderful memories of being in her ancestral family home and being with her family. But the house in front of her also served as a constant reminder of everything she lost, which is why Prim generally kept a safe distance from San Francisco. It was too difficult for her to be here. Knowing full well that she couldn't spend the rest of her time outside, Prim gathered up what little courage and placed her hand on the door knob of the front doors but as she did Prim could have sworn that she had received an electric shock of some sorts which caused her to recoil her hand and wince in pain. Prim waited a moment before trying again and as she turned the doorknob the front door opened, Prim wasn't expecting anything less as the front door was never locked. Walking through the door a wave of nostalgia hit Prim because as much as she kept herself away from The Manor to protect herself from the life of magic she wanted no part of, this was always going to be her home. That saying about how home was where the heart was, seemed very fitting for The Manor and Prim as she couldn't remember ever being happier than being here at The Manor with her family. This was where her heart belonged.
"H-Hello?" Prim called out as she put her bag down on the ground before continuing to walk into the foyer just waiting for someone to come out from anywhere. As she waited Prim couldn't help but notice that the manor hadn't changed too much since she had last been home which was nice except for the numerous amount of flowers that were pretty much taking up every surface in the house, no doubt they were sympathy flowers. But whilst the manor hadn't changed, the family were going through a colossal loss. Moments later Prim heard the sound of footsteps approaching and soon after her cousin Phoebe walked into the foyer from the dining room followed by two men. One of the men Prim recognized as her cousins' mortal father Victor Bennett but the other man, was a tall dark haired man who Prim didn't recognize in the slightest.
"Prim…" Phoebe began and the moment that Prim heard her name being called out, she burst in to tears. Prim just couldn't help herself, she thought she would be able to hold them in but she couldn't and Phoebe burst out crying as well. Prim walked over to her cousin and the two of them embraced each other tightly, all whilst crying their eyes. Prim attempted to say that she was sorry about Prue but the words ever came out properly, it was just a mix of strangled cries and tears. Her heart was broken, that was the only way for Prim to describe but even then words weren't enough. None of this made any sense, Prue had been the strongest and toughest one out of them all and Prim had known her eldest cousin every single day of her life and Prue being gone just didn't make any sense. Prim wasn't sure how long her and Phoebe were like that but eventually they broke away and she went about greeting her Uncle Victor, who was really her uncle in name only as she had been a small child when he had divorced her Aunt Patty.
"Prim, I'd like you to meet my boyfriend Cole Turner." Phoebe began making introductions as she motioned to the tall, dark haired man beside her. "Cole this is our cousin…"
"Primrose Halliwell, everyone calls me Prim though..." Prim began as she offered her hand out to her cousins boyfriend who she was well aware was half demon, half human. He had tried to kill his cousins a couple of times before falling in love with Phoebe but none of that mattered right now. Nothing mattered anymore.
"I'm so sorry for your loss." Cole offered shaking Prim's hand and all she could do in response was nod her head as she was terrified that if she started crying then she would never stop.
"You look exhausted Pea." Phoebe began using an old pet name for her younger cousin which caused Prim to let out a weary smile, she couldn't remember when the last time she had been called pea was.
"It was a long drive." Prim admitted.
"You drove all the way from Providence? Primrose…" Victor said in bewilderment and Prim couldn't quite believe it herself, after she had got off the phone with Phoebe she had packed her bags blindly and she hadn't realized that she in her car driving until an hour later. It wouldn't have been safer and no doubt cheaper to fly but Prim hadn't thinking clearly when she had gotten into her car. All she knew at that time despite all the grief was that she had to be with her family and nothing would stop her from getting to San Francisco.
"You need to get some sleep, you can sleep in my room." Phoebe offered and Prim took her cousins hand and squeezed it gently, whilst she appreciated the offer. This wasn't about her and Prim couldn't help but glance over at the sunroom briefly, to the place where Prue had died. To the place where the two of them had played together growing up.
"Where's Piper?" Prim asked ignoring Phoebe's offer to get some well needed sleep as her getting some rest wasn't at the top of the list of Prim's concerns. She would get some rest later, right now she needed to be with her family.
"Upstairs…" Phoebe quietly said and Prim excused herself in order to go upstairs to see her elder cousin, it was important to Prim that she see her eldest cousin. Slowly going up the flights of stairs, Prim reached the hallway and she saw a familiar figure standing in front of Prue's room; Leo, who was Piper's husband but also the Charmed Ones whitelighter. Prim had met him a few times and he dropped by to see her occasionally to keep her up to date on her cousins.
"Prim." Leo quietly said as he made his way over to her and Prim hugged him, it was something that she was going to have to get used to as the funeral was going to have to be planned. That along with the wake always involved lots of people and hugging.
"How is she?" Prim asked referring to Piper as whilst she was taken the loss of her eldest cousin hard, Prim knew it in no way compared to Piper or Phoebe's even Victor's grief. They had lost a sister and a daughter which Prim could never understand as she was an only child and didn't have children of her own yet. Prim only had the tiniest inkling of what they were feeling based on her own grief and the fact that Prue had been killed in their own home had just made it all the more worse as everyday they would have to walk past the spot where Prue was killed by a demon and they would all have to live with that.
"Not good." Leo solemnly said and Prim couldn't say that she was expecting anything less, Piper and Prue had always been close, so losing Prue must be killing Piper. Just thinking about it made Prim's heart ache for both her cousins and she knew that she couldn't go back to Rhode Island. Prim needed to be here, the place where she belonged and with her family. She would not abandon them in their darkest days. "And you? How are you doing Prim?"
"Don't worry about me." Prim replied forcing a smile for Leo's sake and she could see he wanted to push the subject further but thankfully he didn't.
"Piper… She'll be glad to see you Prim." Leo said and knowing it was time Prim allowed Leo to guide her to what she thought was Prue's bedroom but looked more like Piper and Leo's bedroom. And there on the bed was a sight that made Prim's heart constrict in pain as Piper was laying on the bed crying. Sliding her shoes off Prim walked over to where the bed was against the windows and climbed onto the empty side. At first Piper didn't react to there suddenly being more weight on the bed but as Prim slid closer towards her she did. Her eyes all read and puffy seemed surprised yet at the same time relieved to see her cousin.
"P-Prim?" Piper chocked out and Prim had to suppress the urge to cry as she needed to be strong for both Piper and Phoebe right now. But it was awfully damn hard to be when she saw how devastated Piper was over losing Prue. But Prim had to remind herself that she was a Halliwell and they were incredibly strong women. Sliding closer to Piper, to the point where they were practically spooning, Prim wrapped an arm round her cousin's waist before placing a kiss on the top of her head,
"It's okay, I'm home now…"
God knows what time it was, all Prim knew was that it was late and she was some how managing to function on less than fifteen hours of sleep in the last few days. The drive itself from Providence to San Francisco had been exhausting within itself but it was nothing compared to exhausted Prim had come become after arriving at the Mayor, all the crying had sucked every last bit of energy out of her and even then she still had stuff to do, like helping to make the funeral arrangements which were something that Prim never imagined herself doing. The day had been tiring in more ways than one and by the end of the day Prim didn't quite know how she was still standing, she was going to go book herself into a hotel but Piper insisted that Prim stay in the house and so she was sleeping on the couch to make her elder cousin feel just a tiny bit better. Wearily rubbing her eyes Prim paddled up the stairs making her way up to the attic with a cup of camomile tea for Piper who had been in the attic for god knows how long trying to summon Prue's spirit with every kind of magic for the last few hours. Prim was pretty sure that Piper was still up when she had finally nodded off about just after one and she assumed that Piper was still up, hence bringing the tea to hopefully calm her cousin enough to let her get some sleep. But upon arriving in the attic, Prim found it empty but by the looks of the attic she must have just missed Piper who had presumably finally succumbed to her exhaustion and grief. Prim was going to leave the attic and head back downstairs but something made her stop and so she put down the cup of camomile tea and head over to podium where the Book of Shadows; the magical tome of the Warren Line of witches; their family book sat. Over three hundred years old, it had been passed down every generation starting with Melinda Warren who started the Warren/Halliwell witches line and foretold of the Charmed Ones shortly before she was burned at the stake. When Prim reached the book, she took a deep breath before she reached down and touched the book; gently fingering the triquetra on the front cover. It was the symbol of the Power of Three of rather it was. With Prue dead, so was the Charmed Ones.
Taking a deep breath Prim wearily opened the book and began to flick through the pages, the book had grown quite considerably since Melinda Warren's day. Many of the spells and potions in the book were added by Prim's grandmother Penny. When Prim first learnt that she was a witch, she had spent plenty of hours going through the book and trying to soak in everything she could. The book held Prim's family history and it was a very powerful magical item. As Prim went through the book she came across a page that made her stop for pause, the entry for Shax the source's assassin and Prue's killers.
Demonic hitman called out for only the top assignments by the Source. Corporealizes out of wind and air. Method of attack is a ferocious blast of wind that can be lethal to it's victim.
Prim sighed to herself as she looked at the vanquishing spell for Shax as there was nothing that they could do. If the Charmed ones couldn't vanquish Shax then there was nobody who could.
"Doing some late night reading?"
Prim didn't notice that anyone else had come into the attic so when she heard Leo's voice, she practically jumped out of her skin as Leo had scared her so much. Prim didn't even realize that anyone else was up, Prim believed that the whole house were asleep but apparently she was very wrong.
"Jeez Leo, sneak up much?" Prim said after her heart had restarted.
"Sorry, I had a charge in trouble and I sensed you were up and I figured maybe we could talk." Leo began as he walked further into the room and Prim nodded her head as it explained why Leo was up so late and she didn't mind talking despite the late hour. Despite how little sleep she had over the last couple of days, she felt very much wired. "How are you doing Prim?"
"Fine. It's nice of you to ask how I'm doing Leo but I wouldn't worry about me I'd focus on Piper because if you hadn't noticed she's a mess and Phoebe is trying to hold it together thinking she has to be the strong one for us all but she'll break soon. Phoebe always breaks, it's just a matter of when…" Prim said referring to the fact that Phoebe was the most emotional one out of them all. Whilst Phoebe wasn't going to break into a thousand pieces like Piper, Prim knew that it was only amount of time until Phoebe could no longer hold her grief in and broke down. And Prim was going to wait and be ready for that time, Prim had already decided to stay in San Francisco as her family needed her and she would be here for them. Sure Phoebe had Cole and Piper had Leo but Prim knew that they weren't enough as Prue had been such an enormous part of their family and after everything they had done for her Prim wouldn't leave them in her time of need. This was where she belonged.
"Primrose." Leo said in a manner that Prim that he didn't believe that she was just fine and Prim frowned at the use of her full name at this god forsaken hour of the morning.
"Honestly I don't know how I'm really doing Leo, I'm still having a hard time accepting all of this and trying to get my head around this. I know Prue is dead but yet I don't understand how this could have happened and to Prue of all people. She was always the strongest out of all of us, just like Grams she seemed like the invincible one but apparently not…" Prim sadly noted as looked down at the book and sighed as she looked back down at the entry for Shax, she guessed Prue wasn't as invincible as she thought.
"You can feel it can't you Prim? The book calling out to you and pulling you towards it and your destiny." Leo started and Prim sighed knowing full well where this was going and she really wasn't up for having this conversation with her cousin in law at the moment. Prue was dead because of all this magic nonsense and now Leo was trying to talk to her about magic. The whole magic thing was the last thing that Prim wanted to discuss right now as she just wanted to focus on getting through the funeral tomorrow or rather later on today as it was no doubt going to be one of the hardest days of her family's life.
"I don't know what you're talking about." Prim quickly said, blatantly lying as deep down she knew that there was something that had pulled her to the book. Prim should have left the attic as soon as has realized that Piper must have finally gone to bed. But yet Prim hadn't, despite her better judgement Prim had found herself going over to the book of shadows and going through the book. Something had pulled Prim over to the book and it wasn't her, she knew Leo was probably right about her being drawn to the book. The magical tome that belonged to her family, to the Warren line of witches which Prim belonged to. Despite not using magic Prim had still felt herself being drawn towards the book and she just couldn't really explain why she was up here. Maybe it was due to the power and history that she could feel under her fingertips as her hands rested on the top of the book.
"Prim…"
"Leo, you know full well that none of this is me. I have up on everything to do with magic years ago and what happened to Prue just reinforced why I gave up being a witch. I made it clear when I left the manor five years ago that I wanted nothing to do with magic, I stopped using magic, I sent back every whitelighter the elders sent to try and convince me not to give up my craft. I gave it all up…" Prim stated as she took a deep breath and closed the book before finally walking away from it. Right now wasn't the most appropriate time to be talking about magic given that it was all this magic nonsense that had gotten Prue killed.
"Still doesn't mean your not a witch Prim, you never relinquished your powers. You've still got them despite the fact that you haven't used them in years, they are apart of you Prim just like being a witch is who you are deep down inside and you know that. Tell me that you don't feel stronger being back here in the Manor, being near the book again?" Leo began and Prim looked away uneasily, Prim knew this was all part of his whitelighter gig but right now she didn't appreciate this talk right now. Prim would rather be talking to Leo, her cousin in law and not Leo the whitelighter. It wasn't right to be talking about this things right now given they were going to be burying Prue in a few hours after she was killed in this house, yet another Halliwell to die because of their family involvement with magic. Halliwell women and magic didn't go well.
"I walked away from this life for a reason Leo as it kills everyone I love, first Aunt Patty then my mom one year later. Then I became a witch myself and then dad died and losing him almost killed me Leo, I was consumed with so grief that I couldn't even see straight. Another person I loved was killed by magic, by demons and the responsibility that comes with being a witch. When my dad died I couldn't see straight, Prue came home and she stayed by my side for the better part of a week. Piper knew what to do, she always did and even Phoebe who was still in that rebellious phase of hers put all her crap with Grams and life in general to the side to be there for me. After that I knew I couldn't stay in this life anymore, that I had to walk away from it before it killed me too and I was right because Grams is dead as is Prue now. I can't be a witch Leo because as history shows, it doesn't end well to be a Halliwell witch even Melinda Warren was killed for being a witch and she didn't have the source of all evil wanting her dead." Prim explained and as she felt herself getting worked up over this subject manner, Prim decided to grab the tea that she had made for Piper and drink it as there was no way she would be able to get back to sleep felling so worked up. But the moment Prim picked up the cup of camomile tea, she felt a shock go up her entire body and before she knew it Prim saw a bright blue spark and her cup of tea blew up in her hand. "Ow!
"Prim are you okay?" Leo questioned and Prim nodded her head as she seemed fine for the most part, but her cup on the other hand? Not so much. The cup was pretty much destroyed.
"I guess… But I have no idea what the hell that was, I felt this shock through my body. I thought it was just an electric shock but the next thing, the damn cup is blowing up in my hand." Prim dismally noted until she noticed the weird look on Leo's face, which suggested that something else was going on. Leo seemed less surprised than Prim over what had just happened, in fact he had barely batted an eyelid over what had happened. He had just seemed to be more concerned with whether Prim had hurt herself. "Leo, why do I get the feeling that you know something about why the cup just spontaneously blew up in my hand?"
"The cup didn't spontaneously blow up in your hand Prim, you caused it to blow up."
"Leo I can't blow things up, Piper is the one who can blow things up in this family. All I can do is move things with my mind and I doubt my telekinesis is that advanced given that I never use it. I'm not capable of doing something like that." Prim wearily replied.
"Prim eventually your telekinesis will advance to a more powerful form of telekinesis but that's now what happened to the cup. You mentioned that you felt a shock through your body before the cup exploded." Leo vaguely said and Prim just frowned, Leo was seemingly avoiding telling her what was going on like he wanted her to figure it out for herself.
"Yeah I thought it was just another electric shock just like the one I got when I tried to open the front door when I arrived at the Manor…" Prim replied and then it hit her, she finally realized what Leo was trying to get her to see. All these electric shocks weren't just random occurrences, she was causing them to happen. It only meant one thing; a new active power and Prim couldn't believe something like this was happening, she was a receiving a new active power just hours before she was going to bury her cousin. "Fate was being one cruel bitch. "Why?"
"Because you came home Primrose, your back in the Manor where you first came into your powers. It's natural that your powers would develop more active powers Prim as you're a magical witch and Halliwell one at that, born to two magical witches. You may not be Charmed Primrose Halliwell but you were on your way to becoming a very powerful witch in your own right before you gave up your craft." Leo explained and Prim couldn't believe what she was hearing, she didn't want anything to do with magic and she never used her powers and yet she had developed a new power all because she came home.
"I'm very aware of who my parents were Leo." Prim said in rather point blank manner, her parents were a touchy subject for Prim given that they were both killed by demons and they were the main reason why she had turned her back on witchcraft.
"Then you know that your father had electrokinesis and it explains why you've keep getting electric shocks since you came home Prim."
"And I also know that I haven't used my telekinesis in years Leo, I haven't used any of my basic or active powers in years..." Prim hissed making sure to keep her voice down so not to wake the rest of the house.
"Are you sure about?" Leo asked and Prim looked away momentarily before turning back to her cousin in law.
"Fine… Okay? I admit it, I have used my abilities maybe a dozen times over the years but that's about it. I never used it for any actual reasons it's just because Grams used to always nag me about not letting me telekinesis get sloppy. But that doesn't explain why I'm suddenly becoming electrokenetic, if anything my telekinesis should be advancing …" Prim couldn't help but point out.
"The elders wouldn't have given this to you if there wasn't for a reason Prim." Leo said sounding like the all professional whiteligher instead of her cousin in law and it was really starting to wind Prim up.
"Question Leo, do the Elders have any idea of the meanings of the word respect and compassion or even tact? I've just lost my eldest cousin, I came home to grieve with my family, not to be given a new power. I am not a Charmed One nor am I in the business of playing witch and protecting the innocent and vanquishing demons. I am just plain old Prim Halliwell and that is it…"
"How long do you think you can keep denying who you really are Primrose? You can't keep running and hiding from what you are and denying your magical heritage. Look around you Prim, you're back in the Manor with the book and your family. How much longer can you keep pretending that you can't feel what is supposed to be natural to you? Primrose you are a descendent of Melinda Warren, the daughter of Phillipa Halliwell and Everett Perry as well as the only maternal cousin of the Charmed Ones. You are a powerful witch in your own right and you can't keep denying that." Leo stated and Prim just bit her lip in annoyance as she was well aware of who she was and who she was related to. But that didn't mean anything to her when it came to this whole magic thing.
"I get it I'm a witch but I'm also a Halliwell and the love I have for my family is so much stronger that the magic given to protect innocents and I cannot lose another person I love because of magic." Prim firmly stated, she knew Leo was right but she didn't want to believe it, she didn't want to go back to the life that she had abandoned but here she was back in her family home, and after a few days standing next to their magical book, talking about all things magic and power advancements. Prim wasn't sure how long much longer she could deny who she really was. But right now none of this was about her.