Fairly Reality
By: Gemini
She watched from the shadows as the middle Halliwell sister locked up her club. She watched as Piper climbed into her Jeep and drove away. She hesitated for a moment then after the Jeep drive out of sight she crept out of the shadows. She quietly made her way around to another side of the club. There, she knew, was where the restrooms were located. In the ladies room there was a small window towards the ceiling that she had planned to crawl through. She now examined this window hoping she was not too big to fit though it. A child about the age of ten might fit through perfectly but a young woman of her size would have some difficulty.
She took some kind of tool out of a bag at her side and cut the glass away from the frame. Then carefully set the glass aside, not wanting to shatter it. She dropped her bag through the window and then pulled herself onto the windowsill. She was prepared for the hard fall that would come with pushing herself the rest of the way through the window. It was not as complicated to get through as she had expected it to be, and she fit with only slight difficulties. When she fell from the window, which was a good distance up from the floor, she landed on her bag, which offered some support. However, she did twist her wrist trying to use her hands to help break her fall.
*~*~*~*
Piper opened the front door quietly as she did every night and hung her coat on the hook by the door. She placed her purse on a small table, and laid her keys next to it. She turned around and locked the door, and then headed for the stairs, and her room. She was exhausted, and wanted to get as much sleep as she could. She walked toward the stairs and saw that in the living room that someone had left the television on again. She crossed the room to turn it off. When she bent down and pushed the power button Phoebe, who had been watching the news but dozed off, sat up on the couch quickly.
"Hey! I was watching that!" Phoebe said loudly, being a little startled by the change in her surroundings.
Piper jumped and then turned around and gave Phoebe a 'look'.
"What are you doing?" She asked, attempting to appear calm.
"I was watching the news." Phoebe answered groggily.
"Pheebs, the news went off around four hours ago." Piper said with a grin on her face.
"No, it was on just a minute ago." Phoebe turned around and glanced at the big grandfather clock in the corner, which read 3:24 A.M. "Or…maybe lotsa minutes ago." She said, still sounding sleepy.
"Well, you don't need to sleep on that couch you'll get a crick in your neck, and then we'll be hearing about it for days." Piper said, going over to give Phoebe a hand after she got an, 'I got up too fast' dizzy spell. "Besides you have classes in the morning, you need your rest."
"Right, okay I'm going." She started towards the stairs with Piper behind her. "Oh wait! I forgot to get my bag out of your office when I left the club! I need that for class tomorrow!" Phoebe remembered.
"Go to bed, I'll run back to the club and get it for you." Piper said with a sigh.
"No, don't do that honey, you looked exhausted as it is. I can get it in the morning before class starts." Phoebe said.
"It's not a problem, Pheebs. Just go to sleep. It will be here in the morning." Piper said and waved her sister off as she went to the door, unlocked it, grabbed her keys, and left again.
She pulled up to the club and quickly got out, trying to hurry this along. She found the key to the club in the short distance between her Jeep and the door. She promptly stuck the key in and opened the door. Then she hurried to the alarm system and deactivated it.
"I didn't leave any lights on." Piper said aloud, upon noticing a light in the back of the club was still on. She dismissed this and went to her office. She unlocked the door and saw Phoebe's bag lying on the floor in the corner. She bent down and snatched the heavy bag up and left her office, locking the door back.
"I'll just run back there and turn that light off." Piper said putting her keys and Phoebe's bag on the bar.
She walked to the back of the club, cautiously looking around, just in case. As she was about to flip the light switch she heard a muffled thud. She turned to investigate when a figure dove at her from the shadows. The person tackled her into a nearby table causing the table to break and fall on top of them. Piper kicked her attacker off along with part of the table and chairs. Piper jumped to her feet once more, and then froze the other person who was in the process of standing. She hesitantly went to take a look at the person. From where she was she could tell it was a young woman, only a few years younger than Phoebe. She had never seen her before, but just to be safe she ran to the bar and got a knife. She came back with the knife and looked at the frozen woman.
"All I have to do is prick her." Piper told herself. "It won't be that bad, then I'll know if I need to vanquish her."
She took a few steps closer to the woman. She brought the knife to the center of the woman's left palm and quickly poked the woman's hand with the tip of the blade. The wound began to trickle with blood. Piper sighed, that meant she wasn't a warlock. But what if she was a witch, an evil one? Piper paced back and forth for a few minutes trying to think about what she should do. Would she bleed if she were an evil witch? She had never thought about it and didn't know for sure. She could still be evil; there was normal evil in the world it didn't all have to be supernatural. Suddenly, the woman unfroze while Piper had her back to her. The woman dove at Piper once more, this time taking the knife away. They wrestled back into the darker part of the club without the woman ever getting a good glance at Piper. The knife flung across the room. Once more Piper fought off the woman and froze her. This time she ran to the phone and called the Manor.
"Phoebe, please don't be asleep yet." She mumbled a few times. "C'mon, Prue, Phoebe, someone answer the phone." Piper stood staring at the woman on the floor, in the motion of getting to her feet.
"Mm, Hello?" Piper heard Prue's drowsy voice on the other end of the line.
"Prue!" Piper almost squealed with delight upon hearing her sister's voice. "It's me Piper."
"What's wrong?" Prue asked, her concern snapping her out of sleep.
"I'm at the club, I came back to get Phoebe's bag, and I was attacked."
"Demon attacked?" Prue asked sitting up in her bed.
"I don't think so, she's bleeding." Piper said. "She's frozen right now. I just came in and saw a light was left on, and I was going to turn it off when she jumped me."
"Well, stay there, and I'll be there in a minute. I'll wake up Phoebe. Just try to stay hidden. I'll inform the police." Prue advised.
"No don't call the police, just hurry." Piper said and hung up the phone. For some reason she did not think this was a problem for the police. This seemed like a problem for her and her sisters she just wasn't sure why she thought that.
Piper ducked down behind the bar, and then thought she might be safer in her office. So she crawled around the bar, and saw that the woman had unfroze and was gone. She quickly, and quietly, crept to her office door. She unlocked the door, and was grabbed from the back. Piper lost her balance and fell forward, and the woman fell with her. Piper went to kick the woman off her. The woman hit the wall opposite Piper. Piper jumped up and flicked the lights on. When Piper turned to face her attacker the woman gasped.
"Piper!" Piper's eyes shot open that much wider. The woman sounded shocked to find Piper in her own club. "I'm so sorry! I thought someone had broke in."
"Someone did!" Piper snapped angrily. "That someone was you!"
"Not necessarily, I didn't break in." The woman said.
"How do you know my name?" Piper asked, still curious about before.
"I just do. A lot of us do. It's hard to explain."
"Okay, let's try an easy one then. Who are you?" Piper asked, still furious at the woman for attacking her and yet confused as well.
"My name is Cheryl Pullman. I'm sorry if I hurt you." The woman answered looking truly sorry.
"You're damn straight you hurt me! You slammed me into a table! A hard table made of wood!" Piper snapped at her. "And just what the hell are you doing in my club? And how'd you get in here anyway?"
"Look, please calm down. I'm very sorry. I didn't come to damage anything or to steal from you." Cheryl responded.
Piper took a few calming breaths knowing that she'd get nowhere by being angry. After a few minutes she turned back to the young woman. This was when Piper first noticed that she looked frightened.
At that point Prue and Phoebe came bursting in the front door. Prue was just about to use her power when Piper froze everything. Prue hesitated not knowing what was going on.
"Wait," Piper mumbled rubbing her temples.
"What's going on now?" Prue asked, looking a bit thrown off.
"I don't know!" An exasperated Piper replied.
"Who's she? I think I've seen her before." Phoebe said pointing at Cheryl.
"That is Cheryl Pullman, my attacker. Apparently she thought I was a thief, breaking into the club. So, she took me down, smashing a table and a few chairs in the process." Piper tried to explain.
"Okay wait, she thought you were the intruder?" Phoebe asked trying to clarify things.
"Until she actually saw my face. Then she realized who I was, and she even knew my name." Piper responded.
"Piper, you own one of the most rockin clubs in San Francisco, everyone in this area knows your name." Phoebe reasoned.
"But it's different with her. When I asked her how she knew my name she said she just did, that a lot of them do, and then she said it was too hard to explain." Piper said.
"Did she say who they were?" Prue asked.
"No, I didn't ask." Piper said. "Just, go back to the door, and let me unfreeze her."
Prue and Phoebe went back up the stairs towards the door to where they had been before, and Piper went back to standing in front of the woman. She brought her hand up, wiggled her index finger in a circular motion, and Cheryl unfroze.
"Who are they?" She asked gesturing towards Prue and Phoebe who were now coming down the stairs.
"My sisters." Piper answered.
"Why are they here?" Cheryl asked suspiciously. "It's almost 4 A.M. people don't just decide to wake up and drop by their sister's closed club in the middle of the night still wearing their pajamas."
Prue, Piper, and Phoebe glanced at each other. Piper now noticed that her sisters hadn't changed clothes.
"You couldn't have known Piper was in trouble, she never called or anything." Cheryl reasoned more with herself than anyone else.
"We can sense things." Prue answered, not knowing what else to tell the girl. "I mean we do have a close bond to one another.
"Kind of like that weird thing that happens between twins. You know, how they always know when the other is in trouble?" Phoebe added. "It's a little bit like that. We always know when we need each other."
"Forget that, how did you get into my club?" Piper asked.
"Technically, our club." Phoebe corrected.
"Phoebe, not now." Prue said under her breath.
Phoebe just looked down, and Piper returned her gaze to Cheryl.
"There is a small window in your ladies restroom near the ceiling, and I crawled through it." Cheryl admitted, casting her eyes down in embarrassment. She quickly brought her eyes back up and looked straight into Piper's frustrated gaze. "I didn't intend on being caught. I was going to sneak right back out in the morning before you opened and replace the window."
"Why?" Piper asked, not caring about the details. "Just tell me why you were—are in here."
"I…I um, was looking for clues." Cheryl said, turning her gaze towards the ground again, and clearing her throat nervously.
"What do you mean clues?" Prue asked. "Clues for what?"
"I thought maybe…maybe that I could," She paused and looked up at the three then quickly diverted her eyes once more feeling uncomfortable under their penetrating stares. "That I could…uh, prove…something to my friends and to myself."
"What were—" Phoebe touched Prue's arms stopping her in mid-sentence. She gave her eldest sister a look of pity for Cheryl. Prue backed off; motioning Phoebe to try and pump some answered from her.
"Cheryl," Phoebe started, in that 'you can trust me' tone of voice. "How old are you?"
"Nineteen, I'll be twenty in a few weeks." She answered.
"You look much older." Phoebe said. "In a good way, though." She quickly added.
Cheryl just nodded, but she did not look up. She kept her eyes on the floor.
"If you're worried about the cops, you don't have to be. We won't call them if you talk to us. We need to know why you broke in." Phoebe said.
"I didn't break in, I just let myself in. I didn't break anything, you can go look if you want."
"Fine, but technically you still broke in and we will call the police if you don't tell us why you're here." Prue cut in.
"I'm sorry." Cheryl said, and slumped down on a chair at the bar.
"We know you're sorry. You've already said that." Piper said reassuringly, knowing that something was bothering this girl, and it was more than the concept of the police.
"I just needed to see if you could help me, and I thought I might be able to find something that might be able to tell me what I need to know, to see if you can help so I wouldn't look like an idiot if I were wrong." Cheryl said.
"You need our help?" Prue asked still obviously a bit confused.
"I don't know if you can help me." Cheryl said hanging head in her hands. "I'm in a lot of trouble."
The three sisters stood looking at one another for a few minutes before Cheryl brought her head up again.
"Do you think I could have a drink?" Cheryl asked, and upon seeing Piper's face added, "Non-alcoholic of course. I don't like beer anyway."
"Sure." Piper went behind the bar and got a glass out and set it on the cabinet.
When Piper bent down to get something for Cheryl to drink, Cheryl looked at the glass contemplating something. Then she grabbed the glass and pulled it to her. She jumped off the chair and took a few steps back. Prue and Phoebe jumped up as well on the alert, and Piper shot back up at the sound. Cheryl chunked the glass at Piper and instinctively Piper's hands flew up to block the hit and the glass froze in midair, Cheryl's eyes widened in disbelief. Prue and Phoebe glanced at one another with worried expressions on their faces. Piper glanced at her sisters with an, 'I didn't mean to' expression crossing her face.
"I knew it." Cheryl said under her breath. Hope seemed to light up in her eyes.
Cheryl walked up to the glass and snatched it out of the air.
"Do it again." Cheryl said tossing the glass.
Piper fought the urge to freeze the glass and let it fall and shatter to pieces. Piper looked away angry and even more frustrated.
"Why didn't you just—" Cheryl started looking completely baffled.
"Do what?" Piper asked trying to look innocent.
"I just saw you freeze that glass, why didn't you do it the second time?"
"Freeze a glass? You wanted a frosted glass instead of a regular one?" Piper asked trying to cover herself. "Well, all you had to do was ask, you didn't have to throw my glass down."
"Piper, I know you can freeze things. I just… I know it." Cheryl said.
"Everyone can freeze things, it is the convenience of a freezer." Piper said, and then rolled her eyes at the stupidity of her comment.
Cheryl felt very confused and thought that maybe, through all her hope that she had just imagined what she had seen. She diverted her eyes, which now had no hope sparkling in them, and apologized.
"I must be tired. I suppose my imagination is playing tricks on me." Cheryl said, depressed. "Once again I'm sorry about the table. I'll send you a check. I promise."
"It's just a table, I'm sure it will be replaced easily enough." Piper said.
"If you'll excuse me I'll just get my things and leave." Cheryl said waiting to be excused like a little child at dinner.
"All right." Piper said.
Cheryl turned and went to the back of the club near the broken table. She soon came back with a bag strapped over her shoulder.
"I hope I didn't cause you any more problems than the table. I'm sorry I tackled you so many times." Cheryl apologized once more while rubbing her twisted wrist. "If you need me to pay for any repairs to anything, just call." And with that she wrote her name and number down on a slip of paper and handed it to Phoebe who was closest to her then she turned to leave. As she was leaving they could see her wrapping a piece of cloth around her bleeding hand.
As soon as she left Phoebe turned the paper over in her hands to look at the number. She had left an apology on the paper just below her phone number as well. Phoebe stifled a laugh, and then gasped for air and went stiff as the premonition hit her. She saw Cheryl look down at a piece of paper with all kinds of writing on it. She saw Piper's name had been scratched through. Below Piper's name were the words 'The Charmed Ones'. She saw other words but could not make sense of them. As Cheryl stuffed the paper away in her bag, Phoebe saw a pair of gleaming red eyes watching Cheryl from the shadows. Phoebe gasped once more and relaxed as the premonition ended.
"What was it?" Piper asked. "What'd you see?"
"I think that girl really needed our help." Phoebe said.
"What do you mean, Pheebs?" Prue asked.
"I saw her with a piece of paper and Piper's name was written on it but it had been crossed out." Phoebe explained. She paused and looked at her sisters. "She knows we're the Charmed Ones. Or at least she did, but now she doesn't think so because of what happened."
"Do you think she was trying to prove I was a witch?" Piper asked. "Do you think that was what she was looking for clues for?"
"More than likely." Prue replied. "Well, she is probably gone now though, so it's too late to do anything about it. We might as well wait until tomorrow. We need to get home and get to sleep."
"I think you're right." Piper said.
"There were red eyes watching her." Phoebe cut in.
"What?" Prue asked.
"How do we know that the demon or whatever it is that is after her will wait until tomorrow?" Phoebe asked.
"Pheebs is right, we can't risk it. We have to go find her tonight." Piper said. "We don't know when your premonition will take place or what happens after what you saw." She said to Phoebe and she just nodded in agreement.
"It'd be nice if my premonitions were accompanied by date and time." Phoebe said rubbing her eyes. "Because I'd love to go home and go back to sleep."
"I haven't even been to sleep yet, at least you had a few minutes of rest." Piper said. She grabbed the bag and her keys off the bar and started walking to the door with her sisters following.
Piper locked up P3 once more, and then her sisters and she went in search of Cheryl.
"Where do we start?" Piper asked. "Were there any, like, landmark signs or anything in your premonition?"
"She shouldn't be far, she was just down the road from the club in my premonition." Phoebe said leading them down the road.
A few minutes later they came to a four-way intersection.
"Which way, Pheebs?" Prue asked.
"I'm not sure." Phoebe answered, looking down each road.
"I'd say down that road." Piper said pointing to the road to their left.
"Why that one?" Phoebe asked.
"Because there she is walking down the sidewalk." Piper answered her. "Over there in the shadows." She pointed down the road and Prue nodded.
"I see her. Let's go." Prue said and started walking toward Cheryl.
Phoebe was walking behind Prue when she saw the red eyes and then a black mass sprung at Cheryl. Phoebe shouted and Prue flung the mass against a light post using her power. The red eyes turned on the sisters before running away at an alarming speed. Cheryl was lying on the ground, she had lost her balance and fallen being startled by the thing that jumped at her. Phoebe ran to give her a hand up.
"I knew it!" Cheryl nearly shouted. "Why did you lie to me?"
"We have to protect ourselves, Cheryl." Prue answered.
"I knew I wasn't dreaming when I saw you freeze that glass." Cheryl said turning to Piper. "You have to help me. Please."
"Why do you need our help?" Piper asked.
"You are the 'Charmed Ones' aren't you?" She asked getting excited.
"Yes, we are." Prue said. "We'll help you however we can, but first you have to tell us what is wrong."
"That—that thing that you just got rid of is trying to kill me." Cheryl said looking at the light post where it had been. "You know how in the movies they say 'well, if I told you then I'd have to kill you'? Well, that thing's master wasn't joking when he said it."
"What do you mean?" Phoebe asked.
"He told me things he never should have, and now after he's told me, of his own free will, he wants me dead because I know to much." Cheryl explained. "I've evaded him as long as I can, and I talked to every Wiccan I could find trying to locate the three of you. None of them knew who the Charmed Ones were, of course they knew of you they just didn't know your identities, but one lady at a bookstore told me you three often bought Wicca books there. So, I decided to watch you. I would have come right up to your faces and asked for help but something about you frightened me."
"We frightened you?" Phoebe asked. "How?"
"I'm not sure. Just something about you made we want to take extra precautions." Cheryl replied.
"Like breaking into my club to find something that would confirm your suspicions?" Piper said more than asked.
"Something like that." Cheryl said lowering her eyes.
"I think we should get home. Standing here in the middle of the street isn't my idea of safety. Besides, I think we could all use some sleep. We'll deal with this in the morning. Cheryl you're staying with us." Prue said. "Phoebe you ride with Piper; make sure she stays awake while driving, she looks exhausted. Cheryl, you come with me."
They went back to the cars and Phoebe and Piper climbed into the Jeep, and Prue and Cheryl got into her SUV, and they drove back to the manor. Piper and Phoebe made it back first. When they made it up the stairs they noticed the door was wide open.
"Pheebs, did you and Prue leave the door open?" Piper asked cautiously.
"No, I shut it. I promise." Phoebe answered.
"Then I think we might have a visitor. I think we should wait till Prue gets here." Piper said.
"By the time Prue gets here whatever it is will be gone." Phoebe said entering the house.
"Pheebs!" Piper called from the front steps. She got no answer and followed muttering, "I don't wanna go in alone."
She walked in and dropped her purse on the little table and looked around for Phoebe.
"Pheebs!" Piper called out. "Where are you?" She took a few steps toward the stairs and looked up, but didn't go. She went into the kitchen, but Phoebe wasn't there. "Phoebe, where are you! This isn't funny!"
She left the kitchen and went up the stairs. She checked Phoebe's room, then her own, and finally Prue's but Phoebe wasn't there. She went up to the attic and looked around but still she couldn't find her sister.
"Phoebe!" Piper shouted again, getting more worried. "Phoebe, tell me where you are right now!" Still no answer came.
She went back down the stairs and looked around. The door was still wide open. She walked out and saw Prue coming towards her with Cheryl.
"Prue, did you see Phoebe come out here?" Piper asked hoping she had.
"No, why? Where is she?" Prue asked.
"I don't know. The door was open when we got here and Phoebe went in to find out what was inside. I followed her, but I don't know where she went." Piper said looking more and more concerned with every word.
"Did you check the attic?" Prue asked.
"I checked the attic, the bedrooms, the kitchen, the living room, the solarium, the conservatory; I just don't know where she could have gone." Piper replied.
"Don't worry, Piper, she's got to be in there somewhere and we'll find her." Prue reassured her.
~*~*~*~
Phoebe awoke in a dark room. She shook her head trying to get her bearings. She had no clue what had just happened all she knew now was how much her head hurt. She brought her hand up to her head. As she ran her hand over her head she felt something sticky. She brought her hand back and saw that it had blood on it. She felt her head again, where the pain was the greatest, and when she looked at her hand again it had even more blood on it. Great, sarcastically she thought, not only am I confused and lost, I'm bleeding to death. She looked around the room and saw a bowl of water and some white strips of cloth lying on the floor near her.
She crossed the room and dipped one of the strips into the water and wiped her head clean. Then she used the other rags to wrap around the wound. When she was finished she rinsed her hands off in the water. She brought her knees up to her chest and sat there, in the dark, with her arms wrapped around her knees. She was in a room with a wooden floor, one bookcase in the corner, and single wooden chair and a table in the center of the room and a blanket in another corner. On the table she noticed an apple and a small knife.
"Who would kidnap me and then give me a knife?" She asked herself. She stood up and sat down in the chair at the table. She picked up the knife and cut the apple in half. She took a small bite and then flung the knife against the wall in frustration. "I should have listened to Piper. They'll probably never find me now." She said to herself frustrated.
She went to the door and tried to open it to no avail. It was locked. She kicked and beat on it until she was exhausted. Then she slumped down leaning against the door with her head in her hands. She felt so helpless. She sat back examining her surroundings. Why would the person that did this to me give me such good treatment? She thought looking at the bowl of water and the extra strips of cloth for treating her head. They had even left something for her to eat. Her head began to swim, and she decided to lie down in the corner, wrapping the blanket around her. The room had an unusual breeze for the middle of summer. They must really have the AC up. She thought, as the room continued to get a little colder.
~*~*~*~
"I never should have let her go in alone. If had been with her nothing would have gotten her." Piper said putting all the blame on herself. "If it was that thing we saw earlier I could have frozen it and we could have gotten out, to you." She said turning to Prue.
"Piper, we go through this every time," Prue took her sister's hand up in comfort. "Placing the blame doesn't fix anything. We have to work through this with a clear conscience, we'll be able to think better that way."
"Prue, Piper, I'm so sorry I brought you into this. I should have dealt with him on my own." Cheryl said gravely.
"What I said goes for you too." Prue said. "No one takes the blame for this. It wasn't our fault, and it wasn't Phoebe's fault. None of us knew." Both Piper and Cheryl looked down from Prue's face. "Listen, we need to search the house again, we'll try using the pendulum and the map and see what we come up with next."
"I'll check upstairs," Cheryl said and departed.
"I guess I'll check the kitchen and that part of the house." Prue said and turned to go. Piper grabbed her arm and Prue turned to face her. "What is it?"
"You don't think Pheebs is—do you?" Piper asked swallowing hard at the thought in her head.
"No, I honestly don't, Phoebe is too strong to go down without a fight." Prue said, but she noticed that her words didn't send much comfort. She pulled her sister into a hug, "Piper, we've gone through this type of thing before. I have to believe this won't be any different. Phoebe will be back before you know it and it'll be like she was never gone. You have to be strong, for her."
"You're right." Piper muttered.
"Now, go look for something to help. We could use anything." Prue said. "Go try locating her with the map."
"I will." Piper said and headed up the stairs. Prue went to the kitchen to begin her searching.
Once Piper had the map out on the table she took a deep breath and began trying to find Phoebe. Over and over again the pendulum kept saying Phoebe was in the manor, but they had searched everywhere. Piper tried a few more times before giving up. She sighed deeply and then looked up and closed her eyes.
Mists of blue light swirled together in tiny orbs of color until a man stood before Piper.
"Leo, I need your help, we need your help." Piper said.
"What's wrong?" Leo asked.
Piper related the story to him and asked if he knew where Phoebe could possibly be.
"Have you looked in the Book of Shadows for that thing you said leapt out at the girl?" Leo asked.
"No, in all that happened I didn't even think to look in the book." Piper confessed.
"Well, maybe we should look, maybe that thing has the power to teleport people to other places, which would explain how it got away with Phoebe without you seeing." Leo suggested.
"What if it's not what took Phoebe?" Piper asked discouraged.
"We should still check. There are a lot of different possibilities of what could've happened. Why don't we take this one step at a time." Leo said softly seeing how upset Piper was.
She crossed the room to the book and flopped open the cover. She started flipping through the pages with Leo at her side. She started to turn the pages slower as she felt eyes upon her. She slowly looked up and saw Cheryl standing in the doorway staring at Leo who was still looking over Piper's shoulder. Piper gave Cheryl a questioning look.
"Piper, don't move. There is a man standing behind you, and he's glowing." Cheryl said cautiously, although she looked kind of dazed.
Leo looked up and then looked at Piper before asking, "Piper, who's she?"
Cheryl shook her head and looked at Piper confused. "Who's he?" She asked after hearing him call Piper by name.
"Leo the whitelighter, meet Cheryl the innocent. Cheryl the innocent meet Leo the whitelighter." Piper introduced them quickly and went back to looking through the book.
"What is she looking at?" Cheryl whispered to Leo after taking a few steps towards them. "And what is a whitelighter?"
"It's their Book of Shadows." Leo answered. "And a whitelighter is kind of a guardian angel for witches."
"Oh." Cheryl muttered pretending like she knew what he was talking about. She looked around the room then whispered, "Like a book of their spells and stuff?"
"Yes." Leo answered, and then went back to looking over Piper's shoulder at the pages in the book.
"I found something." Piper said. "Cheryl, come here and tell me if this looks like that thing that attacked you, I wasn't close enough to get a good look."
Cheryl walked to Piper's other side and looked at the picture in the book.
"Looks just like it. What was it?" She asked.
"The book says it's a vassal of some demon lord called Azmodaeus. This thing is like a dog, loyal and protective of his master. It's called a Moloch; it resembles a hunchbacked werewolf, kind of. It can see extremely well in the dark, and it feeds off of blood, like a vampire. It can smell blood up to a mile away." Piper read from the book. "The Moloch has red eyes that can be hypnotic causing it's victims to become paralyzed with fear unable to move at all."
"Okay, so we don't look into the eyes." Cheryl said. "That would explain why I couldn't run when it jumped out at me. I made eye contact."
"It has no teleportation powers though." Piper muttered with a sigh.
"No, but look here – its master may grant it a power. They will only give the Moloch a power that is useful to them. In this case teleportation to capture one of the Charmed Ones." Leo said.
As the three of them were standing around the book they heard Prue scream for Piper. Piper, Leo, and Cheryl ran down the stairs, Piper in the lead in case she needed to use her power. Prue screamed again, and Piper ran into the kitchen. Standing in front of Prue, at an unbelievable four feet tall, was a little bearded man. Piper's jaw dropped, Prue was holding the man against the wall with her powers, and he was pleading with her to release him.
Piper groaned, "Oh sure, why not? Fairies now dwarves, what's next Santa's little elves?"
"Hey, I happen to be a good friend with the old guy and his 'little' elves. And standing next to me they ain't that 'little'!" The dwarf snapped. "And I'm not like those silly dwarves in your fairy tales. I am an intelligent man who just happens to be vertically challenged."
"Leo?" Prue was not quite sure what to do with the little guy.
"Let him down, Prue, he's of no harm to us." Leo replied. He turned to face the dwarf and said, "Trimasel, what are you doing here?"
"Wait, you know him?" Cheryl asked in astonishment.
"Of course!" Piper said rolling her eyes.
"Leo, Leo, Leo I'm only trying to help." Trimasel answered. "And I'd prefer to be called Tri by you full-sized humans. You can't ever seem to pronounce my name right. There is an accent and all. Ooh, you just do my language shame!"
"Help how?" Leo asked.
"Well, there happens to be a trespasser in my realm, and I don't like it. Not that I don't like full-sized humans, but you guys are pigs. Plus you're too big for everything in our realm and everything always ends up broken." Tri explained.
"You know where Phoebe is?" Piper asked, her eyes filling with the light of hope.
"Is that her name? Well, she's very loud. She's been yelling, screaming, and pounding on things inside that big cottage all day." Tri said, "I never liked that cottage anyway, it's your size and it makes everything in our realm look wrong."
"Tri, tell us where Phoebe is!" Leo prompted.
"Okay already, geez, your little friend—"
"Sister." Prue corrected.
"Fine, your little sister was brought into our realm by means of dark magic. My people hate dark magic, and we know how it's used to harm, and no matter how messy you big'uns are we don't think you deserve to be hurt by dark magic so we want to help the poor girl." Tri said.
"How can you help us?" Prue asked.
"The elders have sent me to bring you back. We need you as much as she does. After you save the girl we need you to get rid of the cottage somehow. With all the evil magic about it, it's killing everything around it. All the plants and animals that get to close die." Tri answered. "Even dwarves are starting to get sick from it, we've already had one death and it needs to stop. We don't want anymore dead on our hands."
"Okay, so now we're going to save our sister from deadly dwarves." Piper mumbled.
The little dwarf marched right up to Piper and poked her in the stomach.
"Now you listen here! We are not deadly! This isn't a dwarf's doing! It is one of your kind who is trespassing on our territory." Tri snapped. He was getting so angry his small nose was turning pink.
"Okay, I'm sorry." Piper said in defense.
"Tri, we can't go with you." Prue said. "We don't know what we have to fight, or how to fight it for that matter. If we go we'll just end up being killed. This demon, or warlock, or whatever it is has an advantage, he knows everything about us but we don't know a thing about it."
"Yes, we do. Leo and I found something in the book, it might be useful." Piper explained.
"Why do the dwarf and the whitelighter glow?" Cheryl asked.
"I'm sorry?" Prue said confused.
"Leo glows a golden color, and the dwarf glows a light blue color." Cheryl said, although she seemed to be in a trance as she talked.
"Cheryl, what are you talking about?" Piper asked.
Cheryl shook her head and looked up at the sound of her name. "What? Did you say something?"
"What did you mean?" Piper asked.
"About what? I didn't say anything." Cheryl said wrinkling her brow up in uncertainty.
"You just told us that Leo and Tri were glowing." Prue reminded her.
"I did?" Cheryl asked. "Where am I anyway?"
"What? I'm lost now…" Piper said.
"You're at our house with us." Prue said. "What's going on with you?"
"What time is it?" Cheryl asked ignoring Prue's question.
"Almost seven." Piper answered.
"In the morning?" Cheryl asked. "Man, I'm gonna be so late, I've got classes to get to at the college!" She started for the door but Piper grabbed her arm. "What is it?" She asked Piper.
"Um…your classes were canceled today. So you are hanging out with us." Piper said quickly.
"Leo, can I talk to you a second?" Prue asked and Leo nodded. "Piper, you stay with the girl and the midget."
"Hey!" Tri roared in anger.
"Sorry." Prue apologized as she and Leo went into the dining room to try and figure out what was going on.
*~*~*~*
The sudden pain in Phoebe's head awaked her. She was lying on the floor in the corner of a room. She couldn't quite remember the previous night. She saw, through the window, that the sun had just come above the horizon. She shook her head and looked around. Suddenly, like a fist in the mouth, she realized where she was and what had happened. She slumped back against the wall.
"Well, at least I'm not dead yet." Phoebe muttered to herself.
Just then the door to the room burst open and broke off its hinges flying into the wall opposite it. Phoebe jumped to her feet and got into a defensive stance.
"I spoke too soon." Phoebe muttered under her breath.
A few seconds later a stunningly handsome man walked into the room.
"Whoa, definitely not what I would expect from a demon." She said checking out the man.
"Then again looks can be deceiving." The man said. "You may call me Azmodaeus."
"What do you want with me?" Phoebe asked.
"They always ask that, as if it isn't perfectly obvious." Azmodaeus said taking a few steps in her direction. "I want your powers, Witch, and I want your sisters' as well."
"Well, you don't always get what you want though." Phoebe said glaring at the man. "I know I don't." She added in a murmur.
"I do." He said in a low, heinous voice.
"Then why aren't I dead yet?" She asked angrily.
"I enjoy torturing my victims before I kill them." He said with a wicked grin.
And then with some unseen force he slammed Phoebe against the wall. He walked across the room and slowly waved his hand over Phoebe's eyes. She struggled to move, but she couldn't even wiggle her toes.
"Let's see what events in your life brought you the most pain." He said.
Phoebe winced and squeezed her eyes shut tight as she relived accidents that took place during her childhood. They were random things at first scratches from falling, twisted ankles, sore muscles, and anything that a child could do to hurt himself while he was young. Phoebe could see herself being punched here, or falling off a bike there, or tripping over something, or running into a door and stubbing her toe, basically just common childish things.
After a few minutes of this type of physical pain he brought it all to an end by bringing his hand over her eyes again. She gasped, and dropped her head but did not fall to the ground. She remained pinned to the wall.
"What do you think? Enjoying my little demonstration?" He asked with a malevolent laugh.
"If you want me to tell you the secrets of witchcraft or something like that, then you're outta luck, cause even if there were any secrets I still wouldn't talk." Phoebe said and then spit in the man's face. He brought his hand up as if to strike her, but he resisted the urge and smiled at her instead.
"No, I don't want you to talk, I merely want to hear you scream." He said remaining calm.
"Let's see what type of disturbing memories you have in there." He waved his hand over Phoebe's eyes again and she began to see images of things she remembered.
She saw Grams and how happy she used to be, and then she saw what it did to everyone else when she died. The pain she felt for their lose was overwhelming. Then she saw Andy with a giant smile on his face greeting her at the door asking for Prue, then the image changed to that off his death. Tears flooded her eyes as she saw the people she loved die all over again.
"So sad." Azmodaeus said, waving his hand before Phoebe's eyes once more. "Shall we dig deeper?"
Phoebe fought to stop the tears that were coursing down her face. She closed her eyes and held her head up proudly, or perhaps in was stubbornly. She did not say a word.
"Let's see what other physical harm I can do you. Any broken bones in your past I wonder? Maybe something during your vanquishing times?" And once again he waved his hands in front of Phoebe's eyes.
*~*~*~*
"Well, Prue, I honestly don't know what is wrong with her." Leo said.
"Is it possible she has a power like ours?" Prue asked and Leo shrugged. "Well! That's great! Maybe she's just schizophrenic!"
"PRUE! Prue, get in here, NOW!" Piper screamed from the kitchen.
Prue and Leo ran to the kitchen and saw that Piper had frozen Cheryl.
"What happened?" Leo asked, concern evident in his voice.
"I don't know, we were just talking, and she was walking around the kitchen looking at things. The next thing I knew she was coming at me with a butcher knife." Piper explained.
"Okay, I was only joking about the schizo thing." Prue said.
Prue and Leo walked to Piper's side and saw that Cheryl had a really big knife in her head; her face was stuck in an expression of anger. Prue used her power and flung the knife from her hand, and Piper unfroze Cheryl. She thrust forward to finish her attack before she noticed the knife was gone. Prue grabbed her arms and held them behind her back. Leo brought a chair forward and Prue slammed Cheryl down in the chair. Piper left and came back a few minutes later with some rope. She tied Cheryl to the chair, and then pulled Prue off to the side.
"What is going on here?" Piper asked.
"I only wish I knew." Prue replied with a sigh.
~*~*~*~
"So, are we having fun yet?" Azmodaeus asked Phoebe.
"Bite me." She muttered, her head dropping. She could hardly life it up anymore. All the pain he was putting her through was exhausting her.
"You're right, I should stop all this physical torment. It's accomplishing nothing. I'm gaining no pleasure since you will not scream for mercy like all the others did." He waved his hands over Phoebe's eyes again. "Let's try something a little different. Something that will get to you—heart and soul."
Phoebe was suddenly back in the manor—no, not in the real manor she reminded herself, she was in her memories' manor. She walked around the foyer looking at everything. It looked slightly different. She walked into the sitting room. Suddenly, Prue flung open the front door and stormed in, screaming at Phoebe. Phoebe was confused. Then she saw herself come down the stairs.
"Whoa," She said to herself. "There's another me."
She walked back into the foyer to see herself and Prue fighting and screaming at each other. The last thing she heard was herself screaming, saying 'Fine, you don't want me here? Then I'll just leave.' Then the memory Phoebe went up the stairs and she heard a door slam.
Phoebe stood there staring at her sister and she recognized the fight that had just taken place. It was the famous fight over Roger that sent her to New York. She swallowed hard remembering how much that fight had hurt her. I couldn't believe she didn't trust me. Phoebe thought. Me! Her own sister! She looked down at her hands, and then she looked up at Prue. Prue stormed off into another room. No! That is all in the past! I won't let it get to me, that's what he wants. Phoebe closed her eyes and tried to remember all the good times she had with Prue. She forced herself to think how much she loved her sister, and how much Prue loved her.
~*~*~*~
"Okay, so we go to the little dwarf land to defeat the evil villain and save our sister, then we bring the evil fortress crumbling to the ground." Piper summed up their plan. "Hasn't that been done? Like some little children's story? So, who gets to be the knight in shining armor, Prue? Me or you?"
"Piper, come on, we have to be serious." Prue said sternly.
"You're right, I know, but I was just trying to lighten the mood." Piper said.
"What about the loony girl?" Tri asked. "You gonna leave her here? Cause she might get loose and go on a killing spree." He added with a chuckle.
"Why is that funny?" Piper asked angrily.
"I—I don't know, I just… I just meant that she, I mean…" Tri stuttered, his voice dying away when Piper glared at him.
"I'm sorry." Piper said feeling bad about snapping at him. "It's just be one hectic day, and I'm a little frustrated."
"That's okay." Tri said patting her hand. He turned to the others and said, "So, you ready to go? Checked your magic book for all necessary poems?"
"They are spells, not poems." Prue corrected. "And yes, but Piper, you know he's right. We can't leave Cheryl here. What if she does get loose? There's no telling what she'll do."
"I guess we have no choice but to take her with us." Piper said.
"Hey, Look at the little dwarf! Haha! He's so cute!" Cheryl suddenly chirped.
"What?" Leo asked confused.
"He looks like Snow White's little Grumpy dwarf! Where are your glasses Grumpy?" She asked him. "Hey, uh—" She looked up at Prue. "Oh, I got it! You're Snow White, right? Ha! I got it." Cheryl laughed hysterically before glaring at Piper.
"What? Why are you looking at me like that?" Piper asked looking behind her.
"Hmm…" Cheryl muttered. Then she looked down at the ropes around her. She looked back up at Piper and said, "Hey, Cinderella, get over here and take these ropes off me." Cheryl looked down at her hand and rubbed her finger across the wood of the chair turning her finger over to reveal that it was covered in dust. "And, oh, this chair is filthy. I know you like to spend time in the barn, but don't you think I'll take to living in a house cleaned like a barn!"
"What is she talking about?" Prue whispered to Leo.
"I do not have a clue." Leo muttered.
Tri was on the floor rolling around on his back laughing and pointing at Piper.
"Okay, look, Cheryl, I'm not Cinderella, and that—" Piper pointed at Prue. "Is not Snow White."
"Oh… then who are you?" She asked. "Oh wait! I got it, I bet you're that princess with the really long hair, that's why you have a dwarf…he's going to spin straw into gold for you!"
"No! Cheryl, listen to me. We are two regular people, we're not from fairy tales—"
"I bet you have some beautiful gowns! Huh? Do you?" Cheryl interrupted her.
"Now, you listen to me!" Prue demanded in a fierce tone, making Cheryl jump back in her chair. "We are witches! Got it? That's right, and if you don't come with us to the Dwarf's land, then we'll turn you into a frog and feed you to the Louisiana alligators!"
"Yes ma'am!" Cheryl quickly said with a slight bow of the head. "I'll do anything, just don't kill me! Please! I'm sure I probably have a family some where."
Piper shot Prue an amused look and then told Tri they were ready to go. Prue cut the ropes to Cheryl's chair reminding her not to try and thing funny or she was alligator desert. Tri opened a vortex and just as they were about to step through Leo was called away. He apologized and said he'd come later if he could. Then he orbed away. The others stepped through the vortex into a land full of small people, small houses, small wagons, and small animals. Prue and Piper felt like giants, and Cheryl began to laugh hysterically pointing at the little people. Piper frantically tried to push her hands down but she could not keep them down. Prue threatened Cheryl and she immediately stuck her hands in her pockets and cast her eyes down stifling a fit of giggles.
Cheryl suddenly let out a cry of pain and crouched down putting her arms over her head.
"What's wrong?" Piper asked her.
"All the little people are glowing, it's too bright, and it hurts my eyes." Cheryl said.
"Well, you have to keep walking with us." Piper told her.
"No! I can't, it hurts." Cheryl yelped.
"Cheryl, listen, we need your help to defeat an evil witch with great power. We have to save a beautiful princess that he has kidnapped." Prue said. "We need you to keep coming, you have to be the hero and save her."
Cheryl slowly looked up at Prue and said in a weak voice, "I can try to ignore the colors." She took Prue's extended hand and let Prue lead her the rest of the way.
*~*~*~*
"You endure pain well." Azmodaeus said.
"So what," Phoebe muttered. She was exhausted and it did not matter to her anymore.
"Well, I noticed that the fight with your elder sister brought tears to your eyes, I could see the anguish on your face. Lets see how any fights you and your sisters have had. Lets see those times that you hurt them or that they hurt you, lets watch as the agony grows until you cannot stand it. Until your heart breaks, literally." Once again he waved his hand in front of her face and Phoebe saw memories flashing before her eyes, memories that hurt her more and more.
She relived all of the arguments and fights that her sisters and she had as they played over and over in her mind. She saw all the times she had disobeyed Prue and been hurt as a result, she knew she should have listened to her sister. She saw all the times that she ended up lying awake at night in her bed crying to herself because she felt terrible for something she had said to one of her sisters or because of something they had said to her. She felt all the pain she had felt when they said something harsh to her. She knew she was sobbing in front of the demon, but she no longer cared. How could her life be so painful? Why had she done such stupid things? Why did she have to hurt the ones she loved like that? She couldn't understand. She didn't care that the demon was seeing the weakness he sought. She was remembering every little thing she had fought so hard to forget and it was tearing her apart.
Suddenly the memories stopped flooding back to her. She saw Azmodaeus drop his hand at his side. She continued to weep, unable to stop herself. She felt like she would welcome death at this point. She felt betrayed, ashamed, and so very hurt.
"I think I found the key." He said. "It's love, your love for your family. When that is lost or set aside, that is what hurts you most, the times when hate and anger replace love. That is what will kill you. Your own memories will be your downfall."
He stood up and started for the door to leave. Phoebe tried to say something but the words didn't come out right. Azmodaeus stopped and turned to face her.
"What was that?" He asked with a devilish smirk spreading across his face.
"Please," Phoebe muttered between sobs. "Don't leave me like this. Just kill me now, and get it over with." Phoebe looked down, and took a deep breath before returning her eyes to his gaze. "If I truly bring that much pain and misery to the ones I love then I'd be better off dead, where I can't hurt them anymore."
"Will you sacrifice your powers to me?" He asked thinking to strike a bargain.
Phoebe choked on the words. She could not force herself to say what she was trying to say. She nodded her head instead. Depression was settling in, she didn't think it was fair for her to put Prue and Piper through so much pain. It will be better this way. She thought.
"Very well, I shall prepare for the ceremony." He said, and then he broke out into an evil laugh.
He left the room thinking; I knew my magic would work. This is perfect, now my plan will go as it was meant. As soon as he left the room Phoebe fell from the wall and collapsed onto the floor. She crawled to the corner and curled up into a ball wrapping the blanket around her. She silently let the tears slide down her face.
*~*~*~*
"That's it, right there." Tri said pointing at a cottage. The ground had turned brown with dead plants all around the little house. "How are you planning to defeat this demon-lord?"
"Well, the book said we need Cheryl. From what she told us he fell in love with her, but she forced him to talk about his demon life somehow. Apparently she has some kind of power, something to do with those colors she sees radiating off everyone I would guess." Prue explained. "He is a demon who uses the good and painful memories of someone as a weapon to destroy them with. He makes his victim relive something that is very painful to them, either physically or emotionally. However, the book said if you're lucky enough to face the Demon of Memory—"
"Demon of Memory?" Piper asked.
"Yes, the Demon of Memory, anyway like I was saying, if you're lucky enough to face the Demon and he has—"
"Boy, I bet he was made fun of in his little group of demon buddies, what with such a corny name and all." Tri said interrupting Prue.
"That's what I'm thinking." Piper agreed.
"Okay, guys, hello, remember me? Yeah, we're about to go kill a demon and I'd like to have my plan work, and not be screwed up by someone who doesn't know what's going on because they didn't listen." Prue said sternly.
"Sorry, go on." Piper said.
"The book said that if we fought this demon and we were lucky enough he had fallen in love before, then we could use the person he loves against him. We could bring back his memories of love and use them to torment him. How we do that is we cast a spell that will cause his magic to, um, to bounce off of us and backfire on him. He'll end up using his magic on himself, and if Cheryl is touching him, then he will bring back the memories of his time with her. The betrayal of his Love will kill him." Prue explained.
"Right, okay. So what do we do? I freeze him? We cast a spell? Cheryl touches him? It can't be that easy." Piper said.
"No, it is. But the hard part comes after that." Prue said. "We have to get him to use his powers on us somehow. The book said he only uses his memory recall powers during his torture sessions. That's why I'm so worried about Phoebe. He can cause people to kill themselves to escape the depression he puts them in."
Piper nodded her understanding, and looked up towards the cottage. They were getting closer and closer. Piper and Prue were exchanging ideas on how to get Azmodaeus to use his powers on them when Piper heard a loud thud behind her. She spun around to see Cheryl lying on the ground.
"Prue," Piper stopped getting her sister's attention.
Prue turned around and saw Cheryl lying on the ground. She quickly knelt by her side trying to wake her up. Cheryl had just collapsed.
"What's wrong with her?" Piper asked, leaning over Prue's shoulder.
"I don't know, she just passed out I guess." Prue answered her sister.
She looked back at Piper questioningly not knowing what they should do with her when Cheryl slowly opened her eyes and looked up at Prue. She grabbed Prue's arm, which made her jump and little, and then Cheryl sat up.
"What's going on, Prue?" Cheryl asked rubbing her head where she fell.
"We've followed the dwarf into his realm to get Phoebe. Remember the beautiful princess we have to rescue?" Prue answered.
"What? What princess? What are you talking about?" She asked Prue.
"You don't remember?" Piper asked. Cheryl shook her head. "What do you remember?"
"I remember being in the attic with you, and then Prue yelled and we went down stairs with that angel." Cheryl said.
"Angel? Oh, Leo, well we'll explain later, right now we have to vanquish Azmodaeus and save Phoebe." Prue said.
"Okay, just tell me what I can do to help." Cheryl said.
*~*~*~*
"Finally, I will have the Charmed Ones in my hand." Azmodaeus said. "I've waited so long, and after so many failed."
"Stop gloating and get this done with." Phoebe said. "I can't bear this heartache I have."
"Come kneel before me." He demanded.
Phoebe stepped forward, she knelt in a circle made with powder of some sort, and he placed six candles around the circle. He began to chant in some other language, which Phoebe thought sounded remotely like Latin. He finished his chant and told Phoebe to put her hand in his.
"It won't hurt. I promise, and after I've taken your power I'll send you home if you like. You don't have to die. I can bring back the good memories so you forget the bad ones." He offered.
"No, just do it." She said. He thought, What is wrong with me? I'm offering a witch her life back. I've been in the human world too long. He sighed deeply looking away from Phoebe. If it hadn't been for Cheryl I wouldn't feel this, this compassion! I can't believe she did this to me! He looked back to Phoebe and started to put his hand out to her, but he paused. But she's so like Cheryl, both so young, and strong. He shook the thought away; he had to do this. This is what I was born for! It's my destiny to kill the Charmed Ones.
"Take my hand, and it will all end." He said.
Phoebe looked up at him and he extended his hand to her. She slowly started to reach for it when the new door, which was replaced after Azmodaeus blew off the other, burst open. Prue, Piper, and Cheryl were standing there.
"Phoebe, don't!" Prue shouted.
Phoebe looked at her sisters and looked back at the demon. She stole one last glance of her sisters before her hand reached out for Azmodaeus. Prue used to power and slid Phoebe across the room away from the demon. He turned to Prue with rage in his eyes. His eyes started glowing red, and he transformed into the black hairy figure of a man with sharp fangs.
Prue flung him into the table in the center of the room. Phoebe stood up and started to shout at Prue.
"Stop it, Prue! He's the only one that can stop this! It hurts; just let him end the pain. Please." Phoebe pleaded. Prue stared at her little sister. "Prue, my heart is breaking, I can feel it. I just want relief. I want peace. I don't want to hurt either of you ever again. My whole life is nothing but a big heartache."
Prue heard Piper at her side crying. Prue didn't know what to do. She couldn't bear to see her sister like this, but she knew it was because of the demon's powers. She tried to say something but her voice choked. Piper saw the demon getting up and coming after them and she froze it.
Phoebe fell to her knees once more and started sobbing again. Piper took a few steps forward until she was standing next to Prue.
"Prue, you know what it feels like. Remember?" Phoebe was asking between sobs. "Remember when you were an empath and you felt everyone else's pain? You know how badly it hurt you. Well, this is the same; only this is all my pain. I'm so lost, Prue. Just let me go." Phoebe said in a quiet voice. Prue couldn't think straight, and she didn't know what to do. Piper took Prue's hand in her own, and used her other hand to turn her face so that she was looking at her and not Phoebe.
"Prue, you listen to me. We are not going to kill, Phoebe. We are taking her home with us. Remember? You promised me that she would be home with us before we knew it. You have to remember this is the demon's power." Piper said, although she was crying at seeing her sister suffer so much.
"Piper," Phoebe practically whispered. "If you love me, then let me leave. I can't take this, please, Piper."
"NO!" Piper shouted suddenly becoming very angry. "I love you too damn much to let you do this to yourself! Give me the damn spell, Prue!"
Prue held up a piece of paper and Piper nearly ripped it out of her hands. It didn't take all three of them for this spell to work. Piper had it in her head to put on one hell of a show for this demon. She walked over to the still frozen demon and cast the spell doing the necessary things. When he unfroze he almost struck Piper across the face.
"Wait!" She shouted. "I can't bear to see my sister going through this. If you take her, then take me too."
"Why would you sacrifice yourself for her? You're not going to fight me?" He asked.
"No, I'm not. I want to go with her." Piper said looking him dead in the eye.
"Why? After all the terrible things she's done to you. You want her to die alone, and you know it." Azmodaeus said in a convincing tone of voice.
"I want no such thing!" Piper retorted.
"I'll prove you do." He said he started to raise his hand but she froze him.
"Cheryl, get over here and touch him. Now, from the back so he can't see you." Piper ordered. Then she heard Phoebe scream out, she looked around and Prue was hugging her trying to calm her down. She was trying to explain it was all a demon's doing, but Phoebe said that was he showed her really happened, she could remember it all.
Cheryl was in place when Piper turned her attention back to the matter at hand. She unfroze the demon and prayed that her spell had worked. He waved his hand in front of her eyes and for a moment nothing happened, then he gasped. He fell to his knees. He was screaming in pain. Cheryl did not let go of him, she held on as long as she could. He fell over on his side taking Cheryl down with him. He rolled onto his back staring up at Cheryl.
"I'm sorry, Alex. I loved you." Cheryl said, calling him by his human name.
"Please…" He choked and gasped for air. "Please for, forgive me." He said holding her hand in his.
"I do." She said and he blew up in a puff of black smoke and she sat there alone with tears in her eyes.
Piper was watching Cheryl and when the demon disappeared only then did she notice Phoebe's wild sobbing behind her. She turned around and Phoebe was clinging to Prue, like a little child.
Piper started to go to her when little blue orbs of light appeared before her.
"Is everything all right?" Leo asked Piper before he heard Phoebe's wailing.
"No, not even close." She said then went to Phoebe. Prue passed Phoebe over into Piper's arms and Phoebe wrapped her arms around Piper crying wildly on her shoulder. "Oh, Pheebs," Piper whispered and fought to hold back the tears that were springing to her eyes. Prue went to Cheryl and helped her off the ground, she too was crying. Prue helped Cheryl leave the little building Leo followed. Piper held Phoebe in her arms rocking her back and forth.
"Pheebs, please, whatever you saw it doesn't matter now. It was all in the past." Piper said stroking her sister's head. "It's nothing now, we've dealt with everything."
"But it hurts." Phoebe whispered. Her sobbing was slowing now.
"Everyone had their bad times, Phoebe. But no matter what bad things happen I would never be more hurt in the world than if I had to go through life without you, you or Prue. I love you both. If you think you've hurt me or Prue in the past just think how you would hurt us if you willingly left us." Piper said lovingly.
"I'm sorry," Phoebe muttered. "I'm so sorry."
"Don't be sorry, Pheebs." Piper said hugging her sister tighter. " Just remember, always, that I love you."
"I love you too, Piper." Phoebe said. "But I don't understand, how could Prue still love me after all that I've done to her?"
"She has a big heart, Phoebe, and I think maybe we forget that sometimes." Piper said.
*~*~*~*
Outside Prue, Leo, and Tri were trying to think up a way to destroy the cottage.
"I honestly do not have a clue what I can do." Prue said.
"I have an idea." Leo said. "Go get Piper and Phoebe to come out."
Prue nodded and went back into the shabby cottage to get her sisters.
"Hey, Pheebs," Prue said upon seeing her sisters at the door to the room. "Are you okay? You gave us all a fright."
"I'm fine, thanks." Phoebe said.
Prue pulled her youngest sister into an embrace and held her there.
"Don't you ever say anything like that to me ever again! I could never just let you die, Pheebs. I'm sorry if it looked like I hesitated, but I just panicked. I couldn't think with you begging me to let you die." Prue let Phoebe go.
"I'm going to go find Leo." Piper said and left.
"Prue, I need to ask you a question, and you have to be totally honest with me." Phoebe said.
"I promise, go ahead." Prue said.
"How do you still love me? I've made your life nothing, but a living hell for a long time. I hurt you so many times." Phoebe said without looking Prue in the eyes.
"I thought it was gonna be a hard question. I love you because you're my sister, and I wouldn't be whole without you. I need both you and Piper. I love you even when you make mistakes because I know we're not perfect." Prue brushed a tear off of Phoebe's cheek. "Look, I know I was pretty hard on you a few times too, so we've all hurt each other at one time or another but it's the good things we do for each other that really matter."
"Thank you, Prue." Phoebe said.
"You're welcome," Prue said. She kissed Phoebe on the forehead and said, "Now we need to get out of here, this building is gonna come down."
They left the building and found Leo and Piper outside.
"So? How do we destroy it?" Prue asked.
"Well, I asked my bosses and they gave me a spell for the power of three." Leo said. "You say this and throw this potion and it's a gone building."
Phoebe took Prue's hand in her left hand and Piper's hand in her right hand and together they said the spell. Prue threw the little potion into the wall of the building and a white light enveloped the cottage. It sunk into the ground where flowers began to sprout up. There was a wild cheer from the dwarves, and then the Charmed Ones, their whitelighter, and their innocent were all sent home again.
Once back in the manor the sisters said good-bye to Cheryl.
"Thank you for your help, and I'm sorry about what happened, Phoebe." Cheryl apologized.
"I think you apologized enough when we ran into you at the club." Phoebe said with a laugh.
Prue and Piper were glad to see Phoebe laughing and being herself again. They knew that what she went through was really hard on her.
"You're welcome for anything we did for you." Piper said.
"Yeah, but you might see a psychiatrist about a split personality disorder." Prue said.
"Why?" Cheryl asked confused.
"It just might be a good idea, that's all." Prue said.
"Especially after what we saw." Piper added.
Cheryl said her final good-byes and then left to go home. She knew it was gonna be hard to move on after losing her family, and a lot of other things as well. As she was walking away Leo told Prue, Piper, and Phoebe that Cheryl had power. He said he could feel it, but he didn't know what it was. Prue prayed that she would learn to cope with it if it ever manifested. She and her sisters hugged each other tightly, glad that they were all there and then departed for bed. The three of them hadn't had a good night's sleep for two whole days now. Leo was called away and kissed Piper good-bye. He orbed away and the sisters went up to their rooms, and their precious beds.
By: Gemini
She watched from the shadows as the middle Halliwell sister locked up her club. She watched as Piper climbed into her Jeep and drove away. She hesitated for a moment then after the Jeep drive out of sight she crept out of the shadows. She quietly made her way around to another side of the club. There, she knew, was where the restrooms were located. In the ladies room there was a small window towards the ceiling that she had planned to crawl through. She now examined this window hoping she was not too big to fit though it. A child about the age of ten might fit through perfectly but a young woman of her size would have some difficulty.
She took some kind of tool out of a bag at her side and cut the glass away from the frame. Then carefully set the glass aside, not wanting to shatter it. She dropped her bag through the window and then pulled herself onto the windowsill. She was prepared for the hard fall that would come with pushing herself the rest of the way through the window. It was not as complicated to get through as she had expected it to be, and she fit with only slight difficulties. When she fell from the window, which was a good distance up from the floor, she landed on her bag, which offered some support. However, she did twist her wrist trying to use her hands to help break her fall.
*~*~*~*
Piper opened the front door quietly as she did every night and hung her coat on the hook by the door. She placed her purse on a small table, and laid her keys next to it. She turned around and locked the door, and then headed for the stairs, and her room. She was exhausted, and wanted to get as much sleep as she could. She walked toward the stairs and saw that in the living room that someone had left the television on again. She crossed the room to turn it off. When she bent down and pushed the power button Phoebe, who had been watching the news but dozed off, sat up on the couch quickly.
"Hey! I was watching that!" Phoebe said loudly, being a little startled by the change in her surroundings.
Piper jumped and then turned around and gave Phoebe a 'look'.
"What are you doing?" She asked, attempting to appear calm.
"I was watching the news." Phoebe answered groggily.
"Pheebs, the news went off around four hours ago." Piper said with a grin on her face.
"No, it was on just a minute ago." Phoebe turned around and glanced at the big grandfather clock in the corner, which read 3:24 A.M. "Or…maybe lotsa minutes ago." She said, still sounding sleepy.
"Well, you don't need to sleep on that couch you'll get a crick in your neck, and then we'll be hearing about it for days." Piper said, going over to give Phoebe a hand after she got an, 'I got up too fast' dizzy spell. "Besides you have classes in the morning, you need your rest."
"Right, okay I'm going." She started towards the stairs with Piper behind her. "Oh wait! I forgot to get my bag out of your office when I left the club! I need that for class tomorrow!" Phoebe remembered.
"Go to bed, I'll run back to the club and get it for you." Piper said with a sigh.
"No, don't do that honey, you looked exhausted as it is. I can get it in the morning before class starts." Phoebe said.
"It's not a problem, Pheebs. Just go to sleep. It will be here in the morning." Piper said and waved her sister off as she went to the door, unlocked it, grabbed her keys, and left again.
She pulled up to the club and quickly got out, trying to hurry this along. She found the key to the club in the short distance between her Jeep and the door. She promptly stuck the key in and opened the door. Then she hurried to the alarm system and deactivated it.
"I didn't leave any lights on." Piper said aloud, upon noticing a light in the back of the club was still on. She dismissed this and went to her office. She unlocked the door and saw Phoebe's bag lying on the floor in the corner. She bent down and snatched the heavy bag up and left her office, locking the door back.
"I'll just run back there and turn that light off." Piper said putting her keys and Phoebe's bag on the bar.
She walked to the back of the club, cautiously looking around, just in case. As she was about to flip the light switch she heard a muffled thud. She turned to investigate when a figure dove at her from the shadows. The person tackled her into a nearby table causing the table to break and fall on top of them. Piper kicked her attacker off along with part of the table and chairs. Piper jumped to her feet once more, and then froze the other person who was in the process of standing. She hesitantly went to take a look at the person. From where she was she could tell it was a young woman, only a few years younger than Phoebe. She had never seen her before, but just to be safe she ran to the bar and got a knife. She came back with the knife and looked at the frozen woman.
"All I have to do is prick her." Piper told herself. "It won't be that bad, then I'll know if I need to vanquish her."
She took a few steps closer to the woman. She brought the knife to the center of the woman's left palm and quickly poked the woman's hand with the tip of the blade. The wound began to trickle with blood. Piper sighed, that meant she wasn't a warlock. But what if she was a witch, an evil one? Piper paced back and forth for a few minutes trying to think about what she should do. Would she bleed if she were an evil witch? She had never thought about it and didn't know for sure. She could still be evil; there was normal evil in the world it didn't all have to be supernatural. Suddenly, the woman unfroze while Piper had her back to her. The woman dove at Piper once more, this time taking the knife away. They wrestled back into the darker part of the club without the woman ever getting a good glance at Piper. The knife flung across the room. Once more Piper fought off the woman and froze her. This time she ran to the phone and called the Manor.
"Phoebe, please don't be asleep yet." She mumbled a few times. "C'mon, Prue, Phoebe, someone answer the phone." Piper stood staring at the woman on the floor, in the motion of getting to her feet.
"Mm, Hello?" Piper heard Prue's drowsy voice on the other end of the line.
"Prue!" Piper almost squealed with delight upon hearing her sister's voice. "It's me Piper."
"What's wrong?" Prue asked, her concern snapping her out of sleep.
"I'm at the club, I came back to get Phoebe's bag, and I was attacked."
"Demon attacked?" Prue asked sitting up in her bed.
"I don't think so, she's bleeding." Piper said. "She's frozen right now. I just came in and saw a light was left on, and I was going to turn it off when she jumped me."
"Well, stay there, and I'll be there in a minute. I'll wake up Phoebe. Just try to stay hidden. I'll inform the police." Prue advised.
"No don't call the police, just hurry." Piper said and hung up the phone. For some reason she did not think this was a problem for the police. This seemed like a problem for her and her sisters she just wasn't sure why she thought that.
Piper ducked down behind the bar, and then thought she might be safer in her office. So she crawled around the bar, and saw that the woman had unfroze and was gone. She quickly, and quietly, crept to her office door. She unlocked the door, and was grabbed from the back. Piper lost her balance and fell forward, and the woman fell with her. Piper went to kick the woman off her. The woman hit the wall opposite Piper. Piper jumped up and flicked the lights on. When Piper turned to face her attacker the woman gasped.
"Piper!" Piper's eyes shot open that much wider. The woman sounded shocked to find Piper in her own club. "I'm so sorry! I thought someone had broke in."
"Someone did!" Piper snapped angrily. "That someone was you!"
"Not necessarily, I didn't break in." The woman said.
"How do you know my name?" Piper asked, still curious about before.
"I just do. A lot of us do. It's hard to explain."
"Okay, let's try an easy one then. Who are you?" Piper asked, still furious at the woman for attacking her and yet confused as well.
"My name is Cheryl Pullman. I'm sorry if I hurt you." The woman answered looking truly sorry.
"You're damn straight you hurt me! You slammed me into a table! A hard table made of wood!" Piper snapped at her. "And just what the hell are you doing in my club? And how'd you get in here anyway?"
"Look, please calm down. I'm very sorry. I didn't come to damage anything or to steal from you." Cheryl responded.
Piper took a few calming breaths knowing that she'd get nowhere by being angry. After a few minutes she turned back to the young woman. This was when Piper first noticed that she looked frightened.
At that point Prue and Phoebe came bursting in the front door. Prue was just about to use her power when Piper froze everything. Prue hesitated not knowing what was going on.
"Wait," Piper mumbled rubbing her temples.
"What's going on now?" Prue asked, looking a bit thrown off.
"I don't know!" An exasperated Piper replied.
"Who's she? I think I've seen her before." Phoebe said pointing at Cheryl.
"That is Cheryl Pullman, my attacker. Apparently she thought I was a thief, breaking into the club. So, she took me down, smashing a table and a few chairs in the process." Piper tried to explain.
"Okay wait, she thought you were the intruder?" Phoebe asked trying to clarify things.
"Until she actually saw my face. Then she realized who I was, and she even knew my name." Piper responded.
"Piper, you own one of the most rockin clubs in San Francisco, everyone in this area knows your name." Phoebe reasoned.
"But it's different with her. When I asked her how she knew my name she said she just did, that a lot of them do, and then she said it was too hard to explain." Piper said.
"Did she say who they were?" Prue asked.
"No, I didn't ask." Piper said. "Just, go back to the door, and let me unfreeze her."
Prue and Phoebe went back up the stairs towards the door to where they had been before, and Piper went back to standing in front of the woman. She brought her hand up, wiggled her index finger in a circular motion, and Cheryl unfroze.
"Who are they?" She asked gesturing towards Prue and Phoebe who were now coming down the stairs.
"My sisters." Piper answered.
"Why are they here?" Cheryl asked suspiciously. "It's almost 4 A.M. people don't just decide to wake up and drop by their sister's closed club in the middle of the night still wearing their pajamas."
Prue, Piper, and Phoebe glanced at each other. Piper now noticed that her sisters hadn't changed clothes.
"You couldn't have known Piper was in trouble, she never called or anything." Cheryl reasoned more with herself than anyone else.
"We can sense things." Prue answered, not knowing what else to tell the girl. "I mean we do have a close bond to one another.
"Kind of like that weird thing that happens between twins. You know, how they always know when the other is in trouble?" Phoebe added. "It's a little bit like that. We always know when we need each other."
"Forget that, how did you get into my club?" Piper asked.
"Technically, our club." Phoebe corrected.
"Phoebe, not now." Prue said under her breath.
Phoebe just looked down, and Piper returned her gaze to Cheryl.
"There is a small window in your ladies restroom near the ceiling, and I crawled through it." Cheryl admitted, casting her eyes down in embarrassment. She quickly brought her eyes back up and looked straight into Piper's frustrated gaze. "I didn't intend on being caught. I was going to sneak right back out in the morning before you opened and replace the window."
"Why?" Piper asked, not caring about the details. "Just tell me why you were—are in here."
"I…I um, was looking for clues." Cheryl said, turning her gaze towards the ground again, and clearing her throat nervously.
"What do you mean clues?" Prue asked. "Clues for what?"
"I thought maybe…maybe that I could," She paused and looked up at the three then quickly diverted her eyes once more feeling uncomfortable under their penetrating stares. "That I could…uh, prove…something to my friends and to myself."
"What were—" Phoebe touched Prue's arms stopping her in mid-sentence. She gave her eldest sister a look of pity for Cheryl. Prue backed off; motioning Phoebe to try and pump some answered from her.
"Cheryl," Phoebe started, in that 'you can trust me' tone of voice. "How old are you?"
"Nineteen, I'll be twenty in a few weeks." She answered.
"You look much older." Phoebe said. "In a good way, though." She quickly added.
Cheryl just nodded, but she did not look up. She kept her eyes on the floor.
"If you're worried about the cops, you don't have to be. We won't call them if you talk to us. We need to know why you broke in." Phoebe said.
"I didn't break in, I just let myself in. I didn't break anything, you can go look if you want."
"Fine, but technically you still broke in and we will call the police if you don't tell us why you're here." Prue cut in.
"I'm sorry." Cheryl said, and slumped down on a chair at the bar.
"We know you're sorry. You've already said that." Piper said reassuringly, knowing that something was bothering this girl, and it was more than the concept of the police.
"I just needed to see if you could help me, and I thought I might be able to find something that might be able to tell me what I need to know, to see if you can help so I wouldn't look like an idiot if I were wrong." Cheryl said.
"You need our help?" Prue asked still obviously a bit confused.
"I don't know if you can help me." Cheryl said hanging head in her hands. "I'm in a lot of trouble."
The three sisters stood looking at one another for a few minutes before Cheryl brought her head up again.
"Do you think I could have a drink?" Cheryl asked, and upon seeing Piper's face added, "Non-alcoholic of course. I don't like beer anyway."
"Sure." Piper went behind the bar and got a glass out and set it on the cabinet.
When Piper bent down to get something for Cheryl to drink, Cheryl looked at the glass contemplating something. Then she grabbed the glass and pulled it to her. She jumped off the chair and took a few steps back. Prue and Phoebe jumped up as well on the alert, and Piper shot back up at the sound. Cheryl chunked the glass at Piper and instinctively Piper's hands flew up to block the hit and the glass froze in midair, Cheryl's eyes widened in disbelief. Prue and Phoebe glanced at one another with worried expressions on their faces. Piper glanced at her sisters with an, 'I didn't mean to' expression crossing her face.
"I knew it." Cheryl said under her breath. Hope seemed to light up in her eyes.
Cheryl walked up to the glass and snatched it out of the air.
"Do it again." Cheryl said tossing the glass.
Piper fought the urge to freeze the glass and let it fall and shatter to pieces. Piper looked away angry and even more frustrated.
"Why didn't you just—" Cheryl started looking completely baffled.
"Do what?" Piper asked trying to look innocent.
"I just saw you freeze that glass, why didn't you do it the second time?"
"Freeze a glass? You wanted a frosted glass instead of a regular one?" Piper asked trying to cover herself. "Well, all you had to do was ask, you didn't have to throw my glass down."
"Piper, I know you can freeze things. I just… I know it." Cheryl said.
"Everyone can freeze things, it is the convenience of a freezer." Piper said, and then rolled her eyes at the stupidity of her comment.
Cheryl felt very confused and thought that maybe, through all her hope that she had just imagined what she had seen. She diverted her eyes, which now had no hope sparkling in them, and apologized.
"I must be tired. I suppose my imagination is playing tricks on me." Cheryl said, depressed. "Once again I'm sorry about the table. I'll send you a check. I promise."
"It's just a table, I'm sure it will be replaced easily enough." Piper said.
"If you'll excuse me I'll just get my things and leave." Cheryl said waiting to be excused like a little child at dinner.
"All right." Piper said.
Cheryl turned and went to the back of the club near the broken table. She soon came back with a bag strapped over her shoulder.
"I hope I didn't cause you any more problems than the table. I'm sorry I tackled you so many times." Cheryl apologized once more while rubbing her twisted wrist. "If you need me to pay for any repairs to anything, just call." And with that she wrote her name and number down on a slip of paper and handed it to Phoebe who was closest to her then she turned to leave. As she was leaving they could see her wrapping a piece of cloth around her bleeding hand.
As soon as she left Phoebe turned the paper over in her hands to look at the number. She had left an apology on the paper just below her phone number as well. Phoebe stifled a laugh, and then gasped for air and went stiff as the premonition hit her. She saw Cheryl look down at a piece of paper with all kinds of writing on it. She saw Piper's name had been scratched through. Below Piper's name were the words 'The Charmed Ones'. She saw other words but could not make sense of them. As Cheryl stuffed the paper away in her bag, Phoebe saw a pair of gleaming red eyes watching Cheryl from the shadows. Phoebe gasped once more and relaxed as the premonition ended.
"What was it?" Piper asked. "What'd you see?"
"I think that girl really needed our help." Phoebe said.
"What do you mean, Pheebs?" Prue asked.
"I saw her with a piece of paper and Piper's name was written on it but it had been crossed out." Phoebe explained. She paused and looked at her sisters. "She knows we're the Charmed Ones. Or at least she did, but now she doesn't think so because of what happened."
"Do you think she was trying to prove I was a witch?" Piper asked. "Do you think that was what she was looking for clues for?"
"More than likely." Prue replied. "Well, she is probably gone now though, so it's too late to do anything about it. We might as well wait until tomorrow. We need to get home and get to sleep."
"I think you're right." Piper said.
"There were red eyes watching her." Phoebe cut in.
"What?" Prue asked.
"How do we know that the demon or whatever it is that is after her will wait until tomorrow?" Phoebe asked.
"Pheebs is right, we can't risk it. We have to go find her tonight." Piper said. "We don't know when your premonition will take place or what happens after what you saw." She said to Phoebe and she just nodded in agreement.
"It'd be nice if my premonitions were accompanied by date and time." Phoebe said rubbing her eyes. "Because I'd love to go home and go back to sleep."
"I haven't even been to sleep yet, at least you had a few minutes of rest." Piper said. She grabbed the bag and her keys off the bar and started walking to the door with her sisters following.
Piper locked up P3 once more, and then her sisters and she went in search of Cheryl.
"Where do we start?" Piper asked. "Were there any, like, landmark signs or anything in your premonition?"
"She shouldn't be far, she was just down the road from the club in my premonition." Phoebe said leading them down the road.
A few minutes later they came to a four-way intersection.
"Which way, Pheebs?" Prue asked.
"I'm not sure." Phoebe answered, looking down each road.
"I'd say down that road." Piper said pointing to the road to their left.
"Why that one?" Phoebe asked.
"Because there she is walking down the sidewalk." Piper answered her. "Over there in the shadows." She pointed down the road and Prue nodded.
"I see her. Let's go." Prue said and started walking toward Cheryl.
Phoebe was walking behind Prue when she saw the red eyes and then a black mass sprung at Cheryl. Phoebe shouted and Prue flung the mass against a light post using her power. The red eyes turned on the sisters before running away at an alarming speed. Cheryl was lying on the ground, she had lost her balance and fallen being startled by the thing that jumped at her. Phoebe ran to give her a hand up.
"I knew it!" Cheryl nearly shouted. "Why did you lie to me?"
"We have to protect ourselves, Cheryl." Prue answered.
"I knew I wasn't dreaming when I saw you freeze that glass." Cheryl said turning to Piper. "You have to help me. Please."
"Why do you need our help?" Piper asked.
"You are the 'Charmed Ones' aren't you?" She asked getting excited.
"Yes, we are." Prue said. "We'll help you however we can, but first you have to tell us what is wrong."
"That—that thing that you just got rid of is trying to kill me." Cheryl said looking at the light post where it had been. "You know how in the movies they say 'well, if I told you then I'd have to kill you'? Well, that thing's master wasn't joking when he said it."
"What do you mean?" Phoebe asked.
"He told me things he never should have, and now after he's told me, of his own free will, he wants me dead because I know to much." Cheryl explained. "I've evaded him as long as I can, and I talked to every Wiccan I could find trying to locate the three of you. None of them knew who the Charmed Ones were, of course they knew of you they just didn't know your identities, but one lady at a bookstore told me you three often bought Wicca books there. So, I decided to watch you. I would have come right up to your faces and asked for help but something about you frightened me."
"We frightened you?" Phoebe asked. "How?"
"I'm not sure. Just something about you made we want to take extra precautions." Cheryl replied.
"Like breaking into my club to find something that would confirm your suspicions?" Piper said more than asked.
"Something like that." Cheryl said lowering her eyes.
"I think we should get home. Standing here in the middle of the street isn't my idea of safety. Besides, I think we could all use some sleep. We'll deal with this in the morning. Cheryl you're staying with us." Prue said. "Phoebe you ride with Piper; make sure she stays awake while driving, she looks exhausted. Cheryl, you come with me."
They went back to the cars and Phoebe and Piper climbed into the Jeep, and Prue and Cheryl got into her SUV, and they drove back to the manor. Piper and Phoebe made it back first. When they made it up the stairs they noticed the door was wide open.
"Pheebs, did you and Prue leave the door open?" Piper asked cautiously.
"No, I shut it. I promise." Phoebe answered.
"Then I think we might have a visitor. I think we should wait till Prue gets here." Piper said.
"By the time Prue gets here whatever it is will be gone." Phoebe said entering the house.
"Pheebs!" Piper called from the front steps. She got no answer and followed muttering, "I don't wanna go in alone."
She walked in and dropped her purse on the little table and looked around for Phoebe.
"Pheebs!" Piper called out. "Where are you?" She took a few steps toward the stairs and looked up, but didn't go. She went into the kitchen, but Phoebe wasn't there. "Phoebe, where are you! This isn't funny!"
She left the kitchen and went up the stairs. She checked Phoebe's room, then her own, and finally Prue's but Phoebe wasn't there. She went up to the attic and looked around but still she couldn't find her sister.
"Phoebe!" Piper shouted again, getting more worried. "Phoebe, tell me where you are right now!" Still no answer came.
She went back down the stairs and looked around. The door was still wide open. She walked out and saw Prue coming towards her with Cheryl.
"Prue, did you see Phoebe come out here?" Piper asked hoping she had.
"No, why? Where is she?" Prue asked.
"I don't know. The door was open when we got here and Phoebe went in to find out what was inside. I followed her, but I don't know where she went." Piper said looking more and more concerned with every word.
"Did you check the attic?" Prue asked.
"I checked the attic, the bedrooms, the kitchen, the living room, the solarium, the conservatory; I just don't know where she could have gone." Piper replied.
"Don't worry, Piper, she's got to be in there somewhere and we'll find her." Prue reassured her.
~*~*~*~
Phoebe awoke in a dark room. She shook her head trying to get her bearings. She had no clue what had just happened all she knew now was how much her head hurt. She brought her hand up to her head. As she ran her hand over her head she felt something sticky. She brought her hand back and saw that it had blood on it. She felt her head again, where the pain was the greatest, and when she looked at her hand again it had even more blood on it. Great, sarcastically she thought, not only am I confused and lost, I'm bleeding to death. She looked around the room and saw a bowl of water and some white strips of cloth lying on the floor near her.
She crossed the room and dipped one of the strips into the water and wiped her head clean. Then she used the other rags to wrap around the wound. When she was finished she rinsed her hands off in the water. She brought her knees up to her chest and sat there, in the dark, with her arms wrapped around her knees. She was in a room with a wooden floor, one bookcase in the corner, and single wooden chair and a table in the center of the room and a blanket in another corner. On the table she noticed an apple and a small knife.
"Who would kidnap me and then give me a knife?" She asked herself. She stood up and sat down in the chair at the table. She picked up the knife and cut the apple in half. She took a small bite and then flung the knife against the wall in frustration. "I should have listened to Piper. They'll probably never find me now." She said to herself frustrated.
She went to the door and tried to open it to no avail. It was locked. She kicked and beat on it until she was exhausted. Then she slumped down leaning against the door with her head in her hands. She felt so helpless. She sat back examining her surroundings. Why would the person that did this to me give me such good treatment? She thought looking at the bowl of water and the extra strips of cloth for treating her head. They had even left something for her to eat. Her head began to swim, and she decided to lie down in the corner, wrapping the blanket around her. The room had an unusual breeze for the middle of summer. They must really have the AC up. She thought, as the room continued to get a little colder.
~*~*~*~
"I never should have let her go in alone. If had been with her nothing would have gotten her." Piper said putting all the blame on herself. "If it was that thing we saw earlier I could have frozen it and we could have gotten out, to you." She said turning to Prue.
"Piper, we go through this every time," Prue took her sister's hand up in comfort. "Placing the blame doesn't fix anything. We have to work through this with a clear conscience, we'll be able to think better that way."
"Prue, Piper, I'm so sorry I brought you into this. I should have dealt with him on my own." Cheryl said gravely.
"What I said goes for you too." Prue said. "No one takes the blame for this. It wasn't our fault, and it wasn't Phoebe's fault. None of us knew." Both Piper and Cheryl looked down from Prue's face. "Listen, we need to search the house again, we'll try using the pendulum and the map and see what we come up with next."
"I'll check upstairs," Cheryl said and departed.
"I guess I'll check the kitchen and that part of the house." Prue said and turned to go. Piper grabbed her arm and Prue turned to face her. "What is it?"
"You don't think Pheebs is—do you?" Piper asked swallowing hard at the thought in her head.
"No, I honestly don't, Phoebe is too strong to go down without a fight." Prue said, but she noticed that her words didn't send much comfort. She pulled her sister into a hug, "Piper, we've gone through this type of thing before. I have to believe this won't be any different. Phoebe will be back before you know it and it'll be like she was never gone. You have to be strong, for her."
"You're right." Piper muttered.
"Now, go look for something to help. We could use anything." Prue said. "Go try locating her with the map."
"I will." Piper said and headed up the stairs. Prue went to the kitchen to begin her searching.
Once Piper had the map out on the table she took a deep breath and began trying to find Phoebe. Over and over again the pendulum kept saying Phoebe was in the manor, but they had searched everywhere. Piper tried a few more times before giving up. She sighed deeply and then looked up and closed her eyes.
Mists of blue light swirled together in tiny orbs of color until a man stood before Piper.
"Leo, I need your help, we need your help." Piper said.
"What's wrong?" Leo asked.
Piper related the story to him and asked if he knew where Phoebe could possibly be.
"Have you looked in the Book of Shadows for that thing you said leapt out at the girl?" Leo asked.
"No, in all that happened I didn't even think to look in the book." Piper confessed.
"Well, maybe we should look, maybe that thing has the power to teleport people to other places, which would explain how it got away with Phoebe without you seeing." Leo suggested.
"What if it's not what took Phoebe?" Piper asked discouraged.
"We should still check. There are a lot of different possibilities of what could've happened. Why don't we take this one step at a time." Leo said softly seeing how upset Piper was.
She crossed the room to the book and flopped open the cover. She started flipping through the pages with Leo at her side. She started to turn the pages slower as she felt eyes upon her. She slowly looked up and saw Cheryl standing in the doorway staring at Leo who was still looking over Piper's shoulder. Piper gave Cheryl a questioning look.
"Piper, don't move. There is a man standing behind you, and he's glowing." Cheryl said cautiously, although she looked kind of dazed.
Leo looked up and then looked at Piper before asking, "Piper, who's she?"
Cheryl shook her head and looked at Piper confused. "Who's he?" She asked after hearing him call Piper by name.
"Leo the whitelighter, meet Cheryl the innocent. Cheryl the innocent meet Leo the whitelighter." Piper introduced them quickly and went back to looking through the book.
"What is she looking at?" Cheryl whispered to Leo after taking a few steps towards them. "And what is a whitelighter?"
"It's their Book of Shadows." Leo answered. "And a whitelighter is kind of a guardian angel for witches."
"Oh." Cheryl muttered pretending like she knew what he was talking about. She looked around the room then whispered, "Like a book of their spells and stuff?"
"Yes." Leo answered, and then went back to looking over Piper's shoulder at the pages in the book.
"I found something." Piper said. "Cheryl, come here and tell me if this looks like that thing that attacked you, I wasn't close enough to get a good look."
Cheryl walked to Piper's other side and looked at the picture in the book.
"Looks just like it. What was it?" She asked.
"The book says it's a vassal of some demon lord called Azmodaeus. This thing is like a dog, loyal and protective of his master. It's called a Moloch; it resembles a hunchbacked werewolf, kind of. It can see extremely well in the dark, and it feeds off of blood, like a vampire. It can smell blood up to a mile away." Piper read from the book. "The Moloch has red eyes that can be hypnotic causing it's victims to become paralyzed with fear unable to move at all."
"Okay, so we don't look into the eyes." Cheryl said. "That would explain why I couldn't run when it jumped out at me. I made eye contact."
"It has no teleportation powers though." Piper muttered with a sigh.
"No, but look here – its master may grant it a power. They will only give the Moloch a power that is useful to them. In this case teleportation to capture one of the Charmed Ones." Leo said.
As the three of them were standing around the book they heard Prue scream for Piper. Piper, Leo, and Cheryl ran down the stairs, Piper in the lead in case she needed to use her power. Prue screamed again, and Piper ran into the kitchen. Standing in front of Prue, at an unbelievable four feet tall, was a little bearded man. Piper's jaw dropped, Prue was holding the man against the wall with her powers, and he was pleading with her to release him.
Piper groaned, "Oh sure, why not? Fairies now dwarves, what's next Santa's little elves?"
"Hey, I happen to be a good friend with the old guy and his 'little' elves. And standing next to me they ain't that 'little'!" The dwarf snapped. "And I'm not like those silly dwarves in your fairy tales. I am an intelligent man who just happens to be vertically challenged."
"Leo?" Prue was not quite sure what to do with the little guy.
"Let him down, Prue, he's of no harm to us." Leo replied. He turned to face the dwarf and said, "Trimasel, what are you doing here?"
"Wait, you know him?" Cheryl asked in astonishment.
"Of course!" Piper said rolling her eyes.
"Leo, Leo, Leo I'm only trying to help." Trimasel answered. "And I'd prefer to be called Tri by you full-sized humans. You can't ever seem to pronounce my name right. There is an accent and all. Ooh, you just do my language shame!"
"Help how?" Leo asked.
"Well, there happens to be a trespasser in my realm, and I don't like it. Not that I don't like full-sized humans, but you guys are pigs. Plus you're too big for everything in our realm and everything always ends up broken." Tri explained.
"You know where Phoebe is?" Piper asked, her eyes filling with the light of hope.
"Is that her name? Well, she's very loud. She's been yelling, screaming, and pounding on things inside that big cottage all day." Tri said, "I never liked that cottage anyway, it's your size and it makes everything in our realm look wrong."
"Tri, tell us where Phoebe is!" Leo prompted.
"Okay already, geez, your little friend—"
"Sister." Prue corrected.
"Fine, your little sister was brought into our realm by means of dark magic. My people hate dark magic, and we know how it's used to harm, and no matter how messy you big'uns are we don't think you deserve to be hurt by dark magic so we want to help the poor girl." Tri said.
"How can you help us?" Prue asked.
"The elders have sent me to bring you back. We need you as much as she does. After you save the girl we need you to get rid of the cottage somehow. With all the evil magic about it, it's killing everything around it. All the plants and animals that get to close die." Tri answered. "Even dwarves are starting to get sick from it, we've already had one death and it needs to stop. We don't want anymore dead on our hands."
"Okay, so now we're going to save our sister from deadly dwarves." Piper mumbled.
The little dwarf marched right up to Piper and poked her in the stomach.
"Now you listen here! We are not deadly! This isn't a dwarf's doing! It is one of your kind who is trespassing on our territory." Tri snapped. He was getting so angry his small nose was turning pink.
"Okay, I'm sorry." Piper said in defense.
"Tri, we can't go with you." Prue said. "We don't know what we have to fight, or how to fight it for that matter. If we go we'll just end up being killed. This demon, or warlock, or whatever it is has an advantage, he knows everything about us but we don't know a thing about it."
"Yes, we do. Leo and I found something in the book, it might be useful." Piper explained.
"Why do the dwarf and the whitelighter glow?" Cheryl asked.
"I'm sorry?" Prue said confused.
"Leo glows a golden color, and the dwarf glows a light blue color." Cheryl said, although she seemed to be in a trance as she talked.
"Cheryl, what are you talking about?" Piper asked.
Cheryl shook her head and looked up at the sound of her name. "What? Did you say something?"
"What did you mean?" Piper asked.
"About what? I didn't say anything." Cheryl said wrinkling her brow up in uncertainty.
"You just told us that Leo and Tri were glowing." Prue reminded her.
"I did?" Cheryl asked. "Where am I anyway?"
"What? I'm lost now…" Piper said.
"You're at our house with us." Prue said. "What's going on with you?"
"What time is it?" Cheryl asked ignoring Prue's question.
"Almost seven." Piper answered.
"In the morning?" Cheryl asked. "Man, I'm gonna be so late, I've got classes to get to at the college!" She started for the door but Piper grabbed her arm. "What is it?" She asked Piper.
"Um…your classes were canceled today. So you are hanging out with us." Piper said quickly.
"Leo, can I talk to you a second?" Prue asked and Leo nodded. "Piper, you stay with the girl and the midget."
"Hey!" Tri roared in anger.
"Sorry." Prue apologized as she and Leo went into the dining room to try and figure out what was going on.
*~*~*~*
The sudden pain in Phoebe's head awaked her. She was lying on the floor in the corner of a room. She couldn't quite remember the previous night. She saw, through the window, that the sun had just come above the horizon. She shook her head and looked around. Suddenly, like a fist in the mouth, she realized where she was and what had happened. She slumped back against the wall.
"Well, at least I'm not dead yet." Phoebe muttered to herself.
Just then the door to the room burst open and broke off its hinges flying into the wall opposite it. Phoebe jumped to her feet and got into a defensive stance.
"I spoke too soon." Phoebe muttered under her breath.
A few seconds later a stunningly handsome man walked into the room.
"Whoa, definitely not what I would expect from a demon." She said checking out the man.
"Then again looks can be deceiving." The man said. "You may call me Azmodaeus."
"What do you want with me?" Phoebe asked.
"They always ask that, as if it isn't perfectly obvious." Azmodaeus said taking a few steps in her direction. "I want your powers, Witch, and I want your sisters' as well."
"Well, you don't always get what you want though." Phoebe said glaring at the man. "I know I don't." She added in a murmur.
"I do." He said in a low, heinous voice.
"Then why aren't I dead yet?" She asked angrily.
"I enjoy torturing my victims before I kill them." He said with a wicked grin.
And then with some unseen force he slammed Phoebe against the wall. He walked across the room and slowly waved his hand over Phoebe's eyes. She struggled to move, but she couldn't even wiggle her toes.
"Let's see what events in your life brought you the most pain." He said.
Phoebe winced and squeezed her eyes shut tight as she relived accidents that took place during her childhood. They were random things at first scratches from falling, twisted ankles, sore muscles, and anything that a child could do to hurt himself while he was young. Phoebe could see herself being punched here, or falling off a bike there, or tripping over something, or running into a door and stubbing her toe, basically just common childish things.
After a few minutes of this type of physical pain he brought it all to an end by bringing his hand over her eyes again. She gasped, and dropped her head but did not fall to the ground. She remained pinned to the wall.
"What do you think? Enjoying my little demonstration?" He asked with a malevolent laugh.
"If you want me to tell you the secrets of witchcraft or something like that, then you're outta luck, cause even if there were any secrets I still wouldn't talk." Phoebe said and then spit in the man's face. He brought his hand up as if to strike her, but he resisted the urge and smiled at her instead.
"No, I don't want you to talk, I merely want to hear you scream." He said remaining calm.
"Let's see what type of disturbing memories you have in there." He waved his hand over Phoebe's eyes again and she began to see images of things she remembered.
She saw Grams and how happy she used to be, and then she saw what it did to everyone else when she died. The pain she felt for their lose was overwhelming. Then she saw Andy with a giant smile on his face greeting her at the door asking for Prue, then the image changed to that off his death. Tears flooded her eyes as she saw the people she loved die all over again.
"So sad." Azmodaeus said, waving his hand before Phoebe's eyes once more. "Shall we dig deeper?"
Phoebe fought to stop the tears that were coursing down her face. She closed her eyes and held her head up proudly, or perhaps in was stubbornly. She did not say a word.
"Let's see what other physical harm I can do you. Any broken bones in your past I wonder? Maybe something during your vanquishing times?" And once again he waved his hands in front of Phoebe's eyes.
*~*~*~*
"Well, Prue, I honestly don't know what is wrong with her." Leo said.
"Is it possible she has a power like ours?" Prue asked and Leo shrugged. "Well! That's great! Maybe she's just schizophrenic!"
"PRUE! Prue, get in here, NOW!" Piper screamed from the kitchen.
Prue and Leo ran to the kitchen and saw that Piper had frozen Cheryl.
"What happened?" Leo asked, concern evident in his voice.
"I don't know, we were just talking, and she was walking around the kitchen looking at things. The next thing I knew she was coming at me with a butcher knife." Piper explained.
"Okay, I was only joking about the schizo thing." Prue said.
Prue and Leo walked to Piper's side and saw that Cheryl had a really big knife in her head; her face was stuck in an expression of anger. Prue used her power and flung the knife from her hand, and Piper unfroze Cheryl. She thrust forward to finish her attack before she noticed the knife was gone. Prue grabbed her arms and held them behind her back. Leo brought a chair forward and Prue slammed Cheryl down in the chair. Piper left and came back a few minutes later with some rope. She tied Cheryl to the chair, and then pulled Prue off to the side.
"What is going on here?" Piper asked.
"I only wish I knew." Prue replied with a sigh.
~*~*~*~
"So, are we having fun yet?" Azmodaeus asked Phoebe.
"Bite me." She muttered, her head dropping. She could hardly life it up anymore. All the pain he was putting her through was exhausting her.
"You're right, I should stop all this physical torment. It's accomplishing nothing. I'm gaining no pleasure since you will not scream for mercy like all the others did." He waved his hands over Phoebe's eyes again. "Let's try something a little different. Something that will get to you—heart and soul."
Phoebe was suddenly back in the manor—no, not in the real manor she reminded herself, she was in her memories' manor. She walked around the foyer looking at everything. It looked slightly different. She walked into the sitting room. Suddenly, Prue flung open the front door and stormed in, screaming at Phoebe. Phoebe was confused. Then she saw herself come down the stairs.
"Whoa," She said to herself. "There's another me."
She walked back into the foyer to see herself and Prue fighting and screaming at each other. The last thing she heard was herself screaming, saying 'Fine, you don't want me here? Then I'll just leave.' Then the memory Phoebe went up the stairs and she heard a door slam.
Phoebe stood there staring at her sister and she recognized the fight that had just taken place. It was the famous fight over Roger that sent her to New York. She swallowed hard remembering how much that fight had hurt her. I couldn't believe she didn't trust me. Phoebe thought. Me! Her own sister! She looked down at her hands, and then she looked up at Prue. Prue stormed off into another room. No! That is all in the past! I won't let it get to me, that's what he wants. Phoebe closed her eyes and tried to remember all the good times she had with Prue. She forced herself to think how much she loved her sister, and how much Prue loved her.
~*~*~*~
"Okay, so we go to the little dwarf land to defeat the evil villain and save our sister, then we bring the evil fortress crumbling to the ground." Piper summed up their plan. "Hasn't that been done? Like some little children's story? So, who gets to be the knight in shining armor, Prue? Me or you?"
"Piper, come on, we have to be serious." Prue said sternly.
"You're right, I know, but I was just trying to lighten the mood." Piper said.
"What about the loony girl?" Tri asked. "You gonna leave her here? Cause she might get loose and go on a killing spree." He added with a chuckle.
"Why is that funny?" Piper asked angrily.
"I—I don't know, I just… I just meant that she, I mean…" Tri stuttered, his voice dying away when Piper glared at him.
"I'm sorry." Piper said feeling bad about snapping at him. "It's just be one hectic day, and I'm a little frustrated."
"That's okay." Tri said patting her hand. He turned to the others and said, "So, you ready to go? Checked your magic book for all necessary poems?"
"They are spells, not poems." Prue corrected. "And yes, but Piper, you know he's right. We can't leave Cheryl here. What if she does get loose? There's no telling what she'll do."
"I guess we have no choice but to take her with us." Piper said.
"Hey, Look at the little dwarf! Haha! He's so cute!" Cheryl suddenly chirped.
"What?" Leo asked confused.
"He looks like Snow White's little Grumpy dwarf! Where are your glasses Grumpy?" She asked him. "Hey, uh—" She looked up at Prue. "Oh, I got it! You're Snow White, right? Ha! I got it." Cheryl laughed hysterically before glaring at Piper.
"What? Why are you looking at me like that?" Piper asked looking behind her.
"Hmm…" Cheryl muttered. Then she looked down at the ropes around her. She looked back up at Piper and said, "Hey, Cinderella, get over here and take these ropes off me." Cheryl looked down at her hand and rubbed her finger across the wood of the chair turning her finger over to reveal that it was covered in dust. "And, oh, this chair is filthy. I know you like to spend time in the barn, but don't you think I'll take to living in a house cleaned like a barn!"
"What is she talking about?" Prue whispered to Leo.
"I do not have a clue." Leo muttered.
Tri was on the floor rolling around on his back laughing and pointing at Piper.
"Okay, look, Cheryl, I'm not Cinderella, and that—" Piper pointed at Prue. "Is not Snow White."
"Oh… then who are you?" She asked. "Oh wait! I got it, I bet you're that princess with the really long hair, that's why you have a dwarf…he's going to spin straw into gold for you!"
"No! Cheryl, listen to me. We are two regular people, we're not from fairy tales—"
"I bet you have some beautiful gowns! Huh? Do you?" Cheryl interrupted her.
"Now, you listen to me!" Prue demanded in a fierce tone, making Cheryl jump back in her chair. "We are witches! Got it? That's right, and if you don't come with us to the Dwarf's land, then we'll turn you into a frog and feed you to the Louisiana alligators!"
"Yes ma'am!" Cheryl quickly said with a slight bow of the head. "I'll do anything, just don't kill me! Please! I'm sure I probably have a family some where."
Piper shot Prue an amused look and then told Tri they were ready to go. Prue cut the ropes to Cheryl's chair reminding her not to try and thing funny or she was alligator desert. Tri opened a vortex and just as they were about to step through Leo was called away. He apologized and said he'd come later if he could. Then he orbed away. The others stepped through the vortex into a land full of small people, small houses, small wagons, and small animals. Prue and Piper felt like giants, and Cheryl began to laugh hysterically pointing at the little people. Piper frantically tried to push her hands down but she could not keep them down. Prue threatened Cheryl and she immediately stuck her hands in her pockets and cast her eyes down stifling a fit of giggles.
Cheryl suddenly let out a cry of pain and crouched down putting her arms over her head.
"What's wrong?" Piper asked her.
"All the little people are glowing, it's too bright, and it hurts my eyes." Cheryl said.
"Well, you have to keep walking with us." Piper told her.
"No! I can't, it hurts." Cheryl yelped.
"Cheryl, listen, we need your help to defeat an evil witch with great power. We have to save a beautiful princess that he has kidnapped." Prue said. "We need you to keep coming, you have to be the hero and save her."
Cheryl slowly looked up at Prue and said in a weak voice, "I can try to ignore the colors." She took Prue's extended hand and let Prue lead her the rest of the way.
*~*~*~*
"You endure pain well." Azmodaeus said.
"So what," Phoebe muttered. She was exhausted and it did not matter to her anymore.
"Well, I noticed that the fight with your elder sister brought tears to your eyes, I could see the anguish on your face. Lets see how any fights you and your sisters have had. Lets see those times that you hurt them or that they hurt you, lets watch as the agony grows until you cannot stand it. Until your heart breaks, literally." Once again he waved his hand in front of her face and Phoebe saw memories flashing before her eyes, memories that hurt her more and more.
She relived all of the arguments and fights that her sisters and she had as they played over and over in her mind. She saw all the times she had disobeyed Prue and been hurt as a result, she knew she should have listened to her sister. She saw all the times that she ended up lying awake at night in her bed crying to herself because she felt terrible for something she had said to one of her sisters or because of something they had said to her. She felt all the pain she had felt when they said something harsh to her. She knew she was sobbing in front of the demon, but she no longer cared. How could her life be so painful? Why had she done such stupid things? Why did she have to hurt the ones she loved like that? She couldn't understand. She didn't care that the demon was seeing the weakness he sought. She was remembering every little thing she had fought so hard to forget and it was tearing her apart.
Suddenly the memories stopped flooding back to her. She saw Azmodaeus drop his hand at his side. She continued to weep, unable to stop herself. She felt like she would welcome death at this point. She felt betrayed, ashamed, and so very hurt.
"I think I found the key." He said. "It's love, your love for your family. When that is lost or set aside, that is what hurts you most, the times when hate and anger replace love. That is what will kill you. Your own memories will be your downfall."
He stood up and started for the door to leave. Phoebe tried to say something but the words didn't come out right. Azmodaeus stopped and turned to face her.
"What was that?" He asked with a devilish smirk spreading across his face.
"Please," Phoebe muttered between sobs. "Don't leave me like this. Just kill me now, and get it over with." Phoebe looked down, and took a deep breath before returning her eyes to his gaze. "If I truly bring that much pain and misery to the ones I love then I'd be better off dead, where I can't hurt them anymore."
"Will you sacrifice your powers to me?" He asked thinking to strike a bargain.
Phoebe choked on the words. She could not force herself to say what she was trying to say. She nodded her head instead. Depression was settling in, she didn't think it was fair for her to put Prue and Piper through so much pain. It will be better this way. She thought.
"Very well, I shall prepare for the ceremony." He said, and then he broke out into an evil laugh.
He left the room thinking; I knew my magic would work. This is perfect, now my plan will go as it was meant. As soon as he left the room Phoebe fell from the wall and collapsed onto the floor. She crawled to the corner and curled up into a ball wrapping the blanket around her. She silently let the tears slide down her face.
*~*~*~*
"That's it, right there." Tri said pointing at a cottage. The ground had turned brown with dead plants all around the little house. "How are you planning to defeat this demon-lord?"
"Well, the book said we need Cheryl. From what she told us he fell in love with her, but she forced him to talk about his demon life somehow. Apparently she has some kind of power, something to do with those colors she sees radiating off everyone I would guess." Prue explained. "He is a demon who uses the good and painful memories of someone as a weapon to destroy them with. He makes his victim relive something that is very painful to them, either physically or emotionally. However, the book said if you're lucky enough to face the Demon of Memory—"
"Demon of Memory?" Piper asked.
"Yes, the Demon of Memory, anyway like I was saying, if you're lucky enough to face the Demon and he has—"
"Boy, I bet he was made fun of in his little group of demon buddies, what with such a corny name and all." Tri said interrupting Prue.
"That's what I'm thinking." Piper agreed.
"Okay, guys, hello, remember me? Yeah, we're about to go kill a demon and I'd like to have my plan work, and not be screwed up by someone who doesn't know what's going on because they didn't listen." Prue said sternly.
"Sorry, go on." Piper said.
"The book said that if we fought this demon and we were lucky enough he had fallen in love before, then we could use the person he loves against him. We could bring back his memories of love and use them to torment him. How we do that is we cast a spell that will cause his magic to, um, to bounce off of us and backfire on him. He'll end up using his magic on himself, and if Cheryl is touching him, then he will bring back the memories of his time with her. The betrayal of his Love will kill him." Prue explained.
"Right, okay. So what do we do? I freeze him? We cast a spell? Cheryl touches him? It can't be that easy." Piper said.
"No, it is. But the hard part comes after that." Prue said. "We have to get him to use his powers on us somehow. The book said he only uses his memory recall powers during his torture sessions. That's why I'm so worried about Phoebe. He can cause people to kill themselves to escape the depression he puts them in."
Piper nodded her understanding, and looked up towards the cottage. They were getting closer and closer. Piper and Prue were exchanging ideas on how to get Azmodaeus to use his powers on them when Piper heard a loud thud behind her. She spun around to see Cheryl lying on the ground.
"Prue," Piper stopped getting her sister's attention.
Prue turned around and saw Cheryl lying on the ground. She quickly knelt by her side trying to wake her up. Cheryl had just collapsed.
"What's wrong with her?" Piper asked, leaning over Prue's shoulder.
"I don't know, she just passed out I guess." Prue answered her sister.
She looked back at Piper questioningly not knowing what they should do with her when Cheryl slowly opened her eyes and looked up at Prue. She grabbed Prue's arm, which made her jump and little, and then Cheryl sat up.
"What's going on, Prue?" Cheryl asked rubbing her head where she fell.
"We've followed the dwarf into his realm to get Phoebe. Remember the beautiful princess we have to rescue?" Prue answered.
"What? What princess? What are you talking about?" She asked Prue.
"You don't remember?" Piper asked. Cheryl shook her head. "What do you remember?"
"I remember being in the attic with you, and then Prue yelled and we went down stairs with that angel." Cheryl said.
"Angel? Oh, Leo, well we'll explain later, right now we have to vanquish Azmodaeus and save Phoebe." Prue said.
"Okay, just tell me what I can do to help." Cheryl said.
*~*~*~*
"Finally, I will have the Charmed Ones in my hand." Azmodaeus said. "I've waited so long, and after so many failed."
"Stop gloating and get this done with." Phoebe said. "I can't bear this heartache I have."
"Come kneel before me." He demanded.
Phoebe stepped forward, she knelt in a circle made with powder of some sort, and he placed six candles around the circle. He began to chant in some other language, which Phoebe thought sounded remotely like Latin. He finished his chant and told Phoebe to put her hand in his.
"It won't hurt. I promise, and after I've taken your power I'll send you home if you like. You don't have to die. I can bring back the good memories so you forget the bad ones." He offered.
"No, just do it." She said. He thought, What is wrong with me? I'm offering a witch her life back. I've been in the human world too long. He sighed deeply looking away from Phoebe. If it hadn't been for Cheryl I wouldn't feel this, this compassion! I can't believe she did this to me! He looked back to Phoebe and started to put his hand out to her, but he paused. But she's so like Cheryl, both so young, and strong. He shook the thought away; he had to do this. This is what I was born for! It's my destiny to kill the Charmed Ones.
"Take my hand, and it will all end." He said.
Phoebe looked up at him and he extended his hand to her. She slowly started to reach for it when the new door, which was replaced after Azmodaeus blew off the other, burst open. Prue, Piper, and Cheryl were standing there.
"Phoebe, don't!" Prue shouted.
Phoebe looked at her sisters and looked back at the demon. She stole one last glance of her sisters before her hand reached out for Azmodaeus. Prue used to power and slid Phoebe across the room away from the demon. He turned to Prue with rage in his eyes. His eyes started glowing red, and he transformed into the black hairy figure of a man with sharp fangs.
Prue flung him into the table in the center of the room. Phoebe stood up and started to shout at Prue.
"Stop it, Prue! He's the only one that can stop this! It hurts; just let him end the pain. Please." Phoebe pleaded. Prue stared at her little sister. "Prue, my heart is breaking, I can feel it. I just want relief. I want peace. I don't want to hurt either of you ever again. My whole life is nothing but a big heartache."
Prue heard Piper at her side crying. Prue didn't know what to do. She couldn't bear to see her sister like this, but she knew it was because of the demon's powers. She tried to say something but her voice choked. Piper saw the demon getting up and coming after them and she froze it.
Phoebe fell to her knees once more and started sobbing again. Piper took a few steps forward until she was standing next to Prue.
"Prue, you know what it feels like. Remember?" Phoebe was asking between sobs. "Remember when you were an empath and you felt everyone else's pain? You know how badly it hurt you. Well, this is the same; only this is all my pain. I'm so lost, Prue. Just let me go." Phoebe said in a quiet voice. Prue couldn't think straight, and she didn't know what to do. Piper took Prue's hand in her own, and used her other hand to turn her face so that she was looking at her and not Phoebe.
"Prue, you listen to me. We are not going to kill, Phoebe. We are taking her home with us. Remember? You promised me that she would be home with us before we knew it. You have to remember this is the demon's power." Piper said, although she was crying at seeing her sister suffer so much.
"Piper," Phoebe practically whispered. "If you love me, then let me leave. I can't take this, please, Piper."
"NO!" Piper shouted suddenly becoming very angry. "I love you too damn much to let you do this to yourself! Give me the damn spell, Prue!"
Prue held up a piece of paper and Piper nearly ripped it out of her hands. It didn't take all three of them for this spell to work. Piper had it in her head to put on one hell of a show for this demon. She walked over to the still frozen demon and cast the spell doing the necessary things. When he unfroze he almost struck Piper across the face.
"Wait!" She shouted. "I can't bear to see my sister going through this. If you take her, then take me too."
"Why would you sacrifice yourself for her? You're not going to fight me?" He asked.
"No, I'm not. I want to go with her." Piper said looking him dead in the eye.
"Why? After all the terrible things she's done to you. You want her to die alone, and you know it." Azmodaeus said in a convincing tone of voice.
"I want no such thing!" Piper retorted.
"I'll prove you do." He said he started to raise his hand but she froze him.
"Cheryl, get over here and touch him. Now, from the back so he can't see you." Piper ordered. Then she heard Phoebe scream out, she looked around and Prue was hugging her trying to calm her down. She was trying to explain it was all a demon's doing, but Phoebe said that was he showed her really happened, she could remember it all.
Cheryl was in place when Piper turned her attention back to the matter at hand. She unfroze the demon and prayed that her spell had worked. He waved his hand in front of her eyes and for a moment nothing happened, then he gasped. He fell to his knees. He was screaming in pain. Cheryl did not let go of him, she held on as long as she could. He fell over on his side taking Cheryl down with him. He rolled onto his back staring up at Cheryl.
"I'm sorry, Alex. I loved you." Cheryl said, calling him by his human name.
"Please…" He choked and gasped for air. "Please for, forgive me." He said holding her hand in his.
"I do." She said and he blew up in a puff of black smoke and she sat there alone with tears in her eyes.
Piper was watching Cheryl and when the demon disappeared only then did she notice Phoebe's wild sobbing behind her. She turned around and Phoebe was clinging to Prue, like a little child.
Piper started to go to her when little blue orbs of light appeared before her.
"Is everything all right?" Leo asked Piper before he heard Phoebe's wailing.
"No, not even close." She said then went to Phoebe. Prue passed Phoebe over into Piper's arms and Phoebe wrapped her arms around Piper crying wildly on her shoulder. "Oh, Pheebs," Piper whispered and fought to hold back the tears that were springing to her eyes. Prue went to Cheryl and helped her off the ground, she too was crying. Prue helped Cheryl leave the little building Leo followed. Piper held Phoebe in her arms rocking her back and forth.
"Pheebs, please, whatever you saw it doesn't matter now. It was all in the past." Piper said stroking her sister's head. "It's nothing now, we've dealt with everything."
"But it hurts." Phoebe whispered. Her sobbing was slowing now.
"Everyone had their bad times, Phoebe. But no matter what bad things happen I would never be more hurt in the world than if I had to go through life without you, you or Prue. I love you both. If you think you've hurt me or Prue in the past just think how you would hurt us if you willingly left us." Piper said lovingly.
"I'm sorry," Phoebe muttered. "I'm so sorry."
"Don't be sorry, Pheebs." Piper said hugging her sister tighter. " Just remember, always, that I love you."
"I love you too, Piper." Phoebe said. "But I don't understand, how could Prue still love me after all that I've done to her?"
"She has a big heart, Phoebe, and I think maybe we forget that sometimes." Piper said.
*~*~*~*
Outside Prue, Leo, and Tri were trying to think up a way to destroy the cottage.
"I honestly do not have a clue what I can do." Prue said.
"I have an idea." Leo said. "Go get Piper and Phoebe to come out."
Prue nodded and went back into the shabby cottage to get her sisters.
"Hey, Pheebs," Prue said upon seeing her sisters at the door to the room. "Are you okay? You gave us all a fright."
"I'm fine, thanks." Phoebe said.
Prue pulled her youngest sister into an embrace and held her there.
"Don't you ever say anything like that to me ever again! I could never just let you die, Pheebs. I'm sorry if it looked like I hesitated, but I just panicked. I couldn't think with you begging me to let you die." Prue let Phoebe go.
"I'm going to go find Leo." Piper said and left.
"Prue, I need to ask you a question, and you have to be totally honest with me." Phoebe said.
"I promise, go ahead." Prue said.
"How do you still love me? I've made your life nothing, but a living hell for a long time. I hurt you so many times." Phoebe said without looking Prue in the eyes.
"I thought it was gonna be a hard question. I love you because you're my sister, and I wouldn't be whole without you. I need both you and Piper. I love you even when you make mistakes because I know we're not perfect." Prue brushed a tear off of Phoebe's cheek. "Look, I know I was pretty hard on you a few times too, so we've all hurt each other at one time or another but it's the good things we do for each other that really matter."
"Thank you, Prue." Phoebe said.
"You're welcome," Prue said. She kissed Phoebe on the forehead and said, "Now we need to get out of here, this building is gonna come down."
They left the building and found Leo and Piper outside.
"So? How do we destroy it?" Prue asked.
"Well, I asked my bosses and they gave me a spell for the power of three." Leo said. "You say this and throw this potion and it's a gone building."
Phoebe took Prue's hand in her left hand and Piper's hand in her right hand and together they said the spell. Prue threw the little potion into the wall of the building and a white light enveloped the cottage. It sunk into the ground where flowers began to sprout up. There was a wild cheer from the dwarves, and then the Charmed Ones, their whitelighter, and their innocent were all sent home again.
Once back in the manor the sisters said good-bye to Cheryl.
"Thank you for your help, and I'm sorry about what happened, Phoebe." Cheryl apologized.
"I think you apologized enough when we ran into you at the club." Phoebe said with a laugh.
Prue and Piper were glad to see Phoebe laughing and being herself again. They knew that what she went through was really hard on her.
"You're welcome for anything we did for you." Piper said.
"Yeah, but you might see a psychiatrist about a split personality disorder." Prue said.
"Why?" Cheryl asked confused.
"It just might be a good idea, that's all." Prue said.
"Especially after what we saw." Piper added.
Cheryl said her final good-byes and then left to go home. She knew it was gonna be hard to move on after losing her family, and a lot of other things as well. As she was walking away Leo told Prue, Piper, and Phoebe that Cheryl had power. He said he could feel it, but he didn't know what it was. Prue prayed that she would learn to cope with it if it ever manifested. She and her sisters hugged each other tightly, glad that they were all there and then departed for bed. The three of them hadn't had a good night's sleep for two whole days now. Leo was called away and kissed Piper good-bye. He orbed away and the sisters went up to their rooms, and their precious beds.