Leo orbed into the manor, where a devastating scene awaited him. Two of the three women he'd been pledged to protect lay motionless and bleeding - uunconscious or dead, he didn't know yet - on the ground at his feet. He knelt quickly beside Piper, placing his hand on her chest, begging silently for her life. He felt her chest rise and caught the sob in his throat. He had work to do. A soft glowing light flowed from his fingers and into her. She'd barely started to stir as he turned his attentions to Prue. Looking down at her, his heart sank like a stone. He noticed the thick dark blood, pooled and thickening ominously beneath her head. Her still face was waxen, ghostly. Even as he felt for her pulse, he knew.
Leo tore himself away from Prue to tend to the Doctor, but it was too late. There was nothing Leo could do for him. Returning to Prue's side, Leo grasped her hand and wept as Piper crawled to her sister's body and shook her shoulder. "Prue…Prue, wake up….Prue? You have to wake up now… why aren't you getting up? Dammit, get up!" she yelled, voice breaking. She collapsed over her sister's body.
Prue awakened, dream-like. She thought she stood, but maybe she drifted… upward. Everything looked so fresh, clean and airy. The air glowed, soft and warm. She turned as a hand touched her shoulder.
Death stood before her. "What are you doing here?" she asked, confused. She looked around her, and was shocked to see her own prone body on the ground with her sister and Leo next to her. She whirled around, staring at Death. "You're here for me?" she asked disbelievingly. He nodded, awaiting her reaction. "This is a mistake. I've got so much, too much to do…" she stumbled over her words.
"Prue," Death said calmly, "we've been through this before, you and I. I'm not the enemy, remember?"
Oh no, I'm not going anywhere. What about all the innocents that need our help? My God, what about my sisters?" she said, voice rising. "The circle has been broken - without the Power of Three, they're sitting ducks! Why are you doing this now?" she demanded.
"You know I'm not doing anything to you," he replied patiently, and stretched his hand out to her.
"But I don't want to go." She sounded bewildered, like a child. "You don't understand, I'm not ready yet." Her voice trembled as she rushed on, "It's not my time, yet, it can't be. I haven't finished anything..." she trailed off as Death took a step towards her. "No!" she screamed at him. 'Not yet!" She took a defensive stance toward him.
He shook his head at her. "Still the same old Prue, I see. It'd be so much easier if you'd stop fighting me. It didn't work the first time and it won't work now." He sighed. "Very well, Prudence. I suppose you need a little help."
Death stared commandingly at Leo, who'd stood by, motionless and silent. Phoebe and Cole shimmered into the manor, and Leo whispered something to them. Phoebe went to Piper, and Leo walked towards Prue.
"He sees me, I know it," thought Prue, hope rising giddily. Leo halted and wiped his face, standing still for a moment, listening, before turning to Prue and extending his hand to hers, meeting her eyes. She grabbed him and hugged him fiercely. "Oh, Leo, thank God! I knew you could help me," she said excitedly.
He pulled away and looked into her eyes. "I can help you, Prue," he said softly, "but I won't be able to do what you want."
"I can't come back?" she asked, childlike. Prue looked into Leo's sad eyes, seeing the compassion and the gentleness that she and her sisters had come to rely on. Seeing his heartbreak at the finality of her situation. Her eyes filled.
He cupped his hands to her face. "No," he answered gently, "It's your time. You've done so many wonderful, brave things. You've kept so many people from suffering, Prue. You've fulfilled your destiny. Now it's time to go." Leo's kind face soothed her.
"But, Leo," she said, voice trembling, "What about Piper? And Phoebe? How can I leave them alone?"
He stroked her hair. "I promise you, I will take care of them," he said, and smiled at her gently. Death approached again.
"It can't be time already." Her eyes pleaded with Leo's.
He lost his composure for an instant, then steadied himself. "It can be…it is." His expression was resolute.
And this time when Death stretched his hand out to Prue, she took it.
At dawn on the day of the funeral, Piper sat before the Book of Shadows in the attic. A single candle chased the shadows. Before her was a silver bowl. Her hands splayed out over the Book, Piper chanted, "In this night, and in this hour, I call upon the ancient power. Bring back my sister. Bring back the Power of Three." She waited, looking skyward. She was so tired.
She had to keep trying. She had to bring her back. She flipped through the Book of Shadows, then stopped at a spell: To Call a Lost Witch.
"Power of the witches rise, course unseen across the skies. Come to us who call you near, come to us and settle here." Her chin quivered. She put a sprig of cypress, some rosemary and yarrow root into the silver bowl. She picked up an athame and cut her finger, letting the blood drip into the bowl. "Blood to blood, I summon thee, Blood to blood, return to me," she whispered, voice beginning to shake. The candle flickered, and Piper's face reflected an instant of hope before being crushed. She didn't know what to do. She'd never felt so powerless.
A voice called her, "Piper?"
"Prue?" she whispered. Phoebe entered the room. Despair returned to Piper's face.
Unbeknownst to Piper, Prue heard every faltering word, every trembling whisper. She saw Piper's pale, tired face and it was almost too much for her to bear. But she'd been forbidden to speak with her sisters. And while Prue never hesitated to break a few rules, she knew there was no way back to them - God knows she'd tried everything she could think of to get back. It wasn't possible.
She knew that it was imperative that her sisters accept the finality of her death, the same as she had accepted it. But the look on Piper's sad, care-worn face was breaking her heart. "Please, I didn't want to leave you," she cried out.
Patti materialized Prue's side and hugged her. Prue clung to her, and her mother couldn't help but smile at the strength in her daughter. "You've got to let go, Prue. You know I wish there were another way, but your sisters still have to fulfill their destinies. They can't do that if they live in the past."
Prue's eyes blazed as she asked with raised voice, "How will they survive without the Power of Three?"
Patti smiled. "I have something to tell you, Prue. The Power of Three lives on." She stilled her daughter's questions with a raised hand. "I can't do anymore -I can't say anymore until you understand what you have to do and do it now. Let them go."
"But I love them so much," Prue sobbed. The one thing she needed to tell them so desperately was left unsaid - that she was sorry. She'd never wanted to leave them.
Prue's funeral was simple and heartfelt. For her sisters, the day felt unreal, dreamlike. Soon after, they would learn of another sister, and with her the Power of Three would be restored, building upon itself, a work in progress fraught with complexities and heartache. But Phoebe and Piper would never stop missing Prue.
The evening of the funeral, Cole lay with his arms wrapped around Phoebe in her bedroom. Neither of them were sleeping, though Phoebe's eyes were closed.
I abandoned my sisters for you. It ran through his mind over and over. He knew it was true. He also knew Phoebe loved him - he'd seen proof of that when the Source had stabbed him, if nothing else - but how long could it last if she blamed him for her sister's death?
"Will you ever forgive me for this?"
"For what?" Phoebe questioned.
"For taking you away from your sisters when they needed you most."
She turned her face up to him, smiling faintly. "There's nothing to forgive. It's forgiving myself that I'm having a little trouble with."
He kissed her forehead and smoothed her hair away from her face. "We're both to blame, Phoebe. It's both of us."
She nodded her head slowly. "We'll work it out - who's guilty, who's to blame - we'll go through it all. And then we'll get through it all. Together. OK?"
He pressed himself to her, slipping his hand under the small of her back. Phoebe murmured his name just before they kissed.
Phoebe awakened in the deep stillness of early morning, gently disengaging herself from Cole's arms. Leaving the warmth of their bed, she crept down the stairs. She went to the front doors and opened them, heedless of the cold. She stayed that way a long time, standing and staring at the distant, winking stars. Tears slipped down her cheeks as she said a silent prayer.
Be at peace, Prue.
~ The End ~