An Eye For An Eye
by michelle@psychic-tools.com
Cole walks out
of the Source's chamber, and back to where Phoebe and Leo are waiting.
"The source
has agreed to your condition." Cole tells an obviously upset twosome.
Phoebe takes
in a long ragged breath. "You'd better get up there before its
too late." Cole hesitates, reluctant to leave Phoebe alone in the
underworld.
"Go on
Cole," Leo says "I'll stay with her until you return.''
Cole nods and
shimmers away. As he re-materializes, Cole is shocked to find that he
is still in the underworld face to face with the Source's bodyguard.
The guard smiles evilly at Cole and motions to two nearby demons. "You
know what to do."
"What are
you doing, I have orders from the Source himself." Cole snarls.
"And I'm
here to revoke those orders." The guard says calmly.
"What!
We had a deal!" Cole says.
"Deals
are made to be broken. You can play this two ways, stay here and wait,
or try to fight me and die." States the guard.
Cole sighs,
and turns to face the wall, bowing his head. "There, you see,"
says the guard "you're not as stupid as I thought." Suddenly
Cole whips around and nails the guard with an energy ball, which immediately
engulfs the guard in flames.
Leo holds Phoebe
as she sobs in his arms. He strokes her hair in an effort to calm her.
"You did a very brave thing Phoebe." Leo whispers, "I'll
never be able to thank you enough." Phoebe looks up and smiles
weakly, "I didn't do anything either one of them wouldn't have
done for me." Just then Leo looks heavenward; "They're calling,
it must be pretty important for them to call me down here. I'll be back
as soon as I can."
Leo orbs into
the Halliwell living room just as Cole shimmers in. They both immediately
go to the stricken sisters.
"Where
were you!" Leo demands, as he begins to heal them. "You were
supposed to warn them."
"One of
the guards detained me, he said the source was breaking the….. Phoebe!"
Cole immediately shimmers back to Phoebe. He gets back just in time
to see a demon stab Phoebe through the heart with a dagger. "Noooo!"
Cole screams as he sends lightening bolts through the murderess demon.
The demon disappears in a cloud of vapid smoke. Cole kneels at Phoebes
side, cradling her head in his arms.
"Phoebe"
Cole lets out in a strangled whisper.
"Piper,
Prue?" Phoebe askes.
"Leo is
with them, they're safe" Cole assures her.
With a weak
nod of her head, Phoebe says "Thank you", and dies in Coles
arms. Cole screams in anguish and shimmers with Phoebe back to the manor.
Leo is filling
Prue and Piper in on what happened as the sisters mourn the loss of
Phoebe to the underworld.
"How could
this happen, and if time has been re-set, how come we're starting to
remember it all?" Piper cries.
"It's hard
to say, the elders must want you to remember for some reason."
Just then, Cole
shimmers in with a lifeless Phoebe in his arms.
"LEO!!!"
Cole screams.
Leo rushes over,
"What happened?" He tries to heal her as Cole explains the
depth of the double-cross.
"The source
must have ordered her death as soon as I left him. What's wrong, why
isn't it working?" Cole demands.
Leo's hands
stop glowing, he looks up at Cole sadly, "I can't heal the dead"
Prue and Piper
rush to Phoebes side, sobbing in disbelief. Prue reaches to touch Phoebe's
face, but Cole angrily slaps her hand away.
"This
is your fault!" He screams. "You should have been more cautious!
You have always thought you are better and stronger than the world.
I used to think of that as bravery, but I see now that you're only brave
when someone else can pay the price for your recklessness."
"Cole!"
Piper yells. "That isn't fair!"
"Isn't
it?" Cole says, "Better watch out Piper, you're the next one
who will be sacrificed on the altar of the almighty Prue's pride."
With that Cole
shimmers away taking Phoebes body with him. Leo tries to sooth the speechless
sisters.
"He's very
upset, he'll come around Prue, this isn't your fault."
Prue looks up
at Leo and Piper with tears streaming down her face. "No,"
she says, "He's right – about all of it." Prue turns and walks
silently up the stairs.
"I'll go
and talk to Cole, try to get him to bring Phoebe back." Piper nods,
and Leo orbs back to the under world.
Prue sits on
her bed hugging a pillow close to her. Her eyes are dry, intense, focusing;
she is lost in a memory.
"What
are you doing?" Phoebe asks Prue.
"I'm
opening the box." Prue states mater-of-factly.
"What
if you unleash something terrible?" Phoebe responses incredulously.
"What
ever it is, I'm sure we can handle it." Prue says, holding the
box of glowing orbs in front of her.
'My God,' Prue
thinks, as she is quickly lost in another memory.
"Do
you really think Shax would attack us in the broad day light?"
Piper asks. "Evil is usually more insidious than that."
'Then the chill,
it was dread, foreboding. It was a warning.' Prue thought, 'and I didn't
listen.' Sorrow and regret envelope her as Prue begins to cry softly
into her pillow.
When Leo orbs
into Cole's cavern, he finds Cole sobbing over Phoebe's prone lifeless
body.
"If you
think I'm letting you take her from me, you're insane." Cole whispers
without looking up.
"Cole,"
Leo begins, and just then a figure blinks into the cavern. Leo and Cole
are startled and both breathe a single word, "Tempus".
"What an
amazing command of the obvious you both have." Tempus says.
"How are
you still alive? The source said re-setting time would destroy you."
Cole demands.
"In a moment,"
Tempus says as he walks over to Phoebe. "I have heard that you
had fallen for a witch Belthazor, but to keep her after she has expired?
A bit morbid don't you think?"
"Answer
my question!" Demands Cole.
"The source
was right, re-setting time that way WOULD have destroyed me." Tempus
says quietly.
"What are
you saying?" Leo asks "If you didn't re-set time, how did
it happen? You're the only one with that kind of power."
"True enough,"
Tempus replied. "But the source didn't need actual time to be re-set
to undo the exposure of the witches."
"What?"
Cole said "You mean he planned this? How, why?"
"Early
this morning the source moved the charmed ones and everything they are
familiar with to a parallel plane. Every thing that happened on that
plane was carefully choreographed so that the source could manipulate
the Charmed ones. He knew that the perfect way to destroy them was to
force them into this deal. After the deal was agreed to, he moved the
witches back to their own plane without the power of three. This gave
the appearance of re-setting time without actually doing it. Even if
it didn't work completely, he was certain that at least one witch would
die – he was right."
"If this
is all true, why come to us now, to gloat?" Leo spat.
"I have
a proposition for you. Help me to overthrow the Source, and I will reset
time." Tempus replied.
Cole laughs
bitterly, "How do you expect us to do that? You're insane!"
"I assure
you that I am in full command of all of my faculties. As for how you
do it, that is not my concern, but you must do it quickly, there is
only a small window of opportunity in which to re-set time. Also, I
will only be able to take you back to seconds before your witch dies,
more than that will destroy me." Tempus says. With that Tempus
blinks away leaving a dumbfounded Leo and Cole staring at each other.
"I can't
believe she's dead." Prue says.
"I know,
it's all so unfair." Piper adds.
Cole and Leo
return to the manor. They fill the remaining sisters in on the proposition.
While they agree, they are at a loss as how to go about killing such
a powerful evil.
"Book of
Shadows!" Prue declares, and with that Piper and Prue rush up to
the attic and begin their search.
"There's
nothing in here." Piper whines.
"That's
not true," Prue scolds. "There are lots of things we can use
to fight a very strong evil. Maybe if we use enough of these spells
and potions we can come up with something strong enough to kill him."
"What if
we don't? What then?" Piper asks.
"I don't
know Piper, but we have to try." Prue says continuing to flip through
the ancient book. "Wait, what's this?" Piper leans in as Prue
reads aloud. "An eye for an eye spell. It says here that an ultimate
power of good can sacrifice itself to destroy an ultimate evil…"
"No way,"
Piper says, "The only one who is going to be sacrificed is the
source, come on lets go."
Piper hands
out potions to Cole, Leo, and Prue. "Does everyone know what to
do?" She asks nervously.
The trio nods,
"Here goes everything." Prue whispers.
The source is
barking out commands to willing demons when Cole, Leo, Prue, and Piper,
shimmer/orb in into his cavern. Then battle begins immediately, Piper
and Prue recite different spells, while Cole and Leo fight off demons
and throw potions. At last it is down to the source versus the charmed
ones and company.
The source laughs
coolly at them. "You're no match for me!" He growls. A small
motion of his hand sends Piper crashing into a nearby wall, killing
her instantly. Another motion, and Leo lays lifeless next to his bride.
Cole raises his had to send an energy ball at the source who deflects
it, sending it to Cole to kill him.
Prue gasps at
the carnage around her, takes a deep breath, and seeing no other choice,
begins to read the spell she copied down earlier in the day.
"An eye
for an eye…" she begins. Soon a strange humming sound emanates
from her body; the hum quickly becomes a loud roar.
"What are
you doing?" Demands the source.
Prue continues
chanting and soon a bright pulsing light pours out of her body; her
arms stretch out at her sides as the light consumes her. Suddenly a
beam shoots out from Prue encompassing her and the source as one.
"NOOOO"
the source screams as he explodes into oblivion. With the source vanquished,
the bond is broken and Prue slumps to the ground.
Tempus blinks
in just then, and passes his hand over the fallen trio. Cole, Leo and
Piper begin to stir, dazed. "Phoebe!" Cole yells and shimmers
off. With another wave of his hand, Tempus sends Prue, Piper and Leo
back to the manor.
Cole arrives
in his cavern just before the demon plunges the knife into Phoebe. Cole
kills the demon and wraps his arms around Phoebe.
"Oh god
Phoebe!" Cole sobs.
"What happened?"
Phoebe asks.
"Let's
get you home first, I'll fill you in there." Says Cole.
Once home, Phoebe
sees Leo and Piper huddled over Prue.
"Oh my
god, Prue!" Phoebe rushes over to Prue. "Leo.."
"I can't."
Leo says softly. "She's gone."
"How did
this happen?" Phoebe asks.
Piper explains
about the battle with the source. She shows Phoebe the spell that they
found in Prue's hand.
"She sacrificed
herself to save us, all of us." Piper says looking solemnly at
Cole.
"This is
all my fault!" Phoebe cries. "She did it to save me!"
"No,"
Leo says. He walks over to Phoebe, takes her hands in his and says "She
did what she was meant to do, she saw which path would lead her to the
greater good, and she took it."
"What difference
does that make, we're in the same position we were before." Piper
screams. "One of my sisters is dead. Why didn't the powers 'that
be' help us, why didn't they warn us?!!? What good are they anyway?"
"They did
warn us, or at least they tried." Blinding white orbs circle around
announcing the arrival of a ghostly Prue.
"If one
of us had to die, it should have been me." Prue tries to explain.
"Prue.."
Cole begins haltingly.
"It's okay,"
Prue smiles at Cole, "You were right, at least sort of. I was reckless,
prideful, and if one of us had to pay for it, it should have been me.
Piper," Prue says crossing to the middle sister. "We never
could have survived Phoebe's death, because you knew that in some way
I was responsible. This way you two can continue to fight the good fight
and protect innocents."
"How can
we do that without you Prue? Without the power of three?" Phoebe
sobs.
"You will
find a way." Prue replies giving a knowing look to Leo. "I
love you, Blessed be." Prue says as the orbs lift her away from
the manor, away from her human life.
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