GIDEON: Well, there are no guarantees with time travel, Leo. You should know that better than anyone.
(LEO doesn't say anything to that.)
GIDEON: Sorry.
IT'S A BAD, BAD, BAD, BAD WORLD (1)
As he walked out of the temple with the sacred urn his feelings of anxiety grew. Who the hell was Chris and why should he trust him? What if they were wrong? What if making the sisters goddesses just made things worse. His eyes fell on Chris sat nonchalantly amongst the massacred bodies of old friends and colleagues. No. That was one thing that Leo was certain of, nothing could be worse than this.
"LEO."
"Piper." There she was again, her call seemed to offer him a glimpse of something pure and undefiled amid this butchery and the urge to run to her almost overwhelmed him.
"No!" Chris's voice cut into his thoughts, crushing his escape.
"But she needs me."
"Not as much as the rest of us do. You need to stay here, even afterwards, to coordinate."
He was right, Leo knew that Chris was right but his assurance was becoming irritating.
"All right. Then you should go. Otherwise, the girls won't understand."
Chris just nodded. "Good luck." Then he was gone leaving Leo alone. A second before he had wanted Chris away, but now without him the quiet felt shocking, no bustling whitelighters, no familiar clacks of conversation against a background of melodic orbing.
Leo sat down and reverently uncovered the urn, solemnly reciting,
"Ekre oh-ghee
ak-man minento."
Nothing happened. Damn, he must have said it wrong. He tried again and again and again and again. Screw Chris. Leo had told him that he wasn't an Elder, that this couldn't work. He got up, resolute now. OK he would go back to the temple and if he couldn't find any more information there then he would go home to his family, they would figure this out together. He hunted for some time among the antiquities feeling sacrilegious and wrong. Then from nowhere he was blasted by Piper's pain and suddenly nothing else mattered.
"NO!"
Overcome by her agony, her despair, her fear he tried to orb but was flung down to the ground, his powers hazy. Panicking, he concentrated more, every atom of his being focused on her, and finally, as if in slow motion, the Manor attic materialised. For a moment Leo was transfixed by the carnage before him. Paige lay splattered across the floor and in horror he realised that...that mess must be what remained of Phoebe. At any other time this sight would have destroyed him but he ran past them blindly, conscious only of the need to get to Piper. He saw her, barely conscious as blood poured from a wound in her shoulder, her face a bludgeoned mess. Thank God. He was not too late.
He dived beside her, terrified of wasting a single second. "Hold on Baby, it's going to be okay."
Piper opened her eyes and sighed thankfully. "Leo."
His hands were over her, but there was no healing glow. Forcing himself to remain calm Leo tried again, struggling to think of loving thoughts, his best, happiest feelings, the first time he had seen her, when she told him she loved him, their marriage, Wyatt's birth. His hands flickered then nothing. What was wrong with him? This couldn't be happening, all the people he had saved, all the good he had done was for nothing if he couldn't save her.
She was fading now, no longer conscious. What was he going to do? What were they going to do? Something caught his eye and he turned to see Chris slumped against the wall, just looking at them dead eyed. Leo was almost sick with relief. Chris was a whitelighter, he could heal her. Eagerly he grabbed Chris tearing his shirt as Leo dragged him towards Piper. "Help me damn you. Save her, I can't."
Chris struggled out of his grasp, and stumbled back to the wall; unable to look at either Leo or Piper he mumbled, "No, I...."
But Leo had him by the throat. "You did this? You bastard!"
Chris shook him off. "No, it was the Titans, we went to face them but the girls were too weak, they followed us back here and......" His voice trailed away. "I can't heal them. This wasn't supposed to happen. This wasn't her time to die. This stupid fucking spell." Angrily he pulled some paper from his pocket and screwed it up, hurling it against the wall in frustration. "This is all my fault, it must be all my fault." He went to kick a chair and cried out in alarm as his leg, now transparent, passed through it.
But Leo's wasn't listening, didn't care. He was back with Piper, holding her in his arms, stroking her hair, telling her how much he loved her, how much he needed her, how much Wyatt needed her. He talked on and on oblivious to everything; he talked on, long after Chris had faded away and long after she was dead.
If I ever acquire any rights to Charmed I'll let you know.
If you are reading this for the second time, after the long, long gap. I am really sorry about the wait.
