"Forgotten Memories"
Sequel to 'Fairly Reality'
By: Gemini
Prue's alarm clock buzzed, it was four thirty already. She felt around her nightstand for the blasted noisemaker and ended up knocking it into the floor still buzzing. She crawled out of bed, picked up the clock, and turned it off looking at the time. She had an early photo shoot this morning. She sighed and went to the bathroom hoping that if she splashed some cold water on her face it would wake her up. She was sure to be quiet, so that she did not wake up her sisters. She knew that Phoebe had not been sleeping well since her encounter with the Memory Demon, and Piper's own worry had been keeping her up lately as well. She went into the bathroom and washed her face, took her shower, and then got dressed to go. She picked up her equipment and headed to the kitchen for a quick breakfast. When she entered the kitchen Phoebe was sitting at the table sipping at a cup of coffee.
"What are you doing up so early? It's only five o'clock." Phoebe asked Prue.
"I was about to ask the same question of you. I have a photo shoot at six o'clock at one of the parks downtown; some kind of sunrise theme. What about you?" Prue returned the question.
"I was planning on going to bed before you and Piper woke up. That way it would look like I had at least gone to bed." Phoebe confessed.
"You've been up all night long? Again?" Prue asked sounding worried. "Phoebe, you can't keep doing this, it's unhealthy, and you have to get some sleep. How many nights have you done this?"
"I know, I know. It's just that ever since we faced that Memory Demon I haven't been able to get a good night's sleep. I can't even close my eyes without seeing something I've tried so hard to forget." Phoebe explained. "And I've only done this," She gestured to the situation. "a few times."
"Do you want to talk about it? I've got a few minutes before I have to leave." Prue offered.
"There's not really anything to talk about." Phoebe said taking another sip of her coffee. "But I do think it's getting better. I actually slept well for a few hours this week, and even though it wasn't that much time, believe me, it was extremely welcome."
"I hope this gets better soon, I'm worried about you, and I know Piper is too." Prue said drawing her brows together in concern.
"Well, I guess I'll head upstairs then. How bout we don't tell Piper about me staying up all night? I don't need to hear another lecture." Phoebe said with a smile.
"Only if you promise to try and get some real sleep." Prue said. "You're starting to lose your color, and not to mention those awful rings around your eyes." Prue smiled.
"Okay, I promise I'll try." Phoebe agreed.
Prue walked Phoebe to her room and made sure that she got into bed, practically tucking her in. She kissed her on the forehead and said she would see her later. They agreed to have lunch together, and then Prue left for work. Phoebe slowly drifted off into a fitful sleep. She woke up again around noon. The sun was stealing into her room through a crack in the curtains. She rolled over trying to avoid the sunny rays, but she could not get back to sleep. She lay there looking up at the ceiling awhile before finally crawling out of bed and getting dressed. Lunch with Prue was in an hour; it was going to be a late lunch.
Phoebe was in the hallway upstairs and could smell something burning in the house. She did not know what it was, but she didn't think it was good. She rushed through the hall and down the stairs worried that there might be an electrical fire in the house somewhere. She followed the smell as it got stronger, and she ended up in the kitchen. Piper was sitting at a table with her head lying in her arms. She either did not hear Phoebe come in or didn't care because she didn't look up.
"Piper?" Phoebe said wondering what was going on. She glanced at the stove and saw a tremendous fire blazing out of control. Piper looked up at Phoebe. She stood up with a glass in her hand and stumbled to Phoebe's side. She lost her balance and started to fall but Phoebe caught her and steadied her. "What's wrong sweetie?" Phoebe asked in a hurry wanting to deal with the fire.
"I wanteed to make you and me something to eat," Piper said with a slur. Then she shook her head and threw down the glass. She turned to the fire and froze it. Phoebe nearly let out a sigh of relief. "This whole damned day has been nothing but trouble sinced it started." Piper said slightly angry. She looked up at her younger sister and smiled, her eyes had a faint foggy look to them. Then she touched Phoebe in the middle of the forehead. "Grams smeared her lipstick on you, honey. You can't go to school like that, everyone will laugh at you." She started to gently rub Phoebe's forehead clean.
Phoebe took Piper's hand away from her forehead and started patting it with her other hand. "Piper, what did you do today?" Phoebe asked getting more concerned with every passing moment.
"I—I was…I was just cooking, and I got thirsty, and so I had a glass of water, and then I got more thirsty, and I had one more drink, and then the bottle was empty and the stove was on fire, and I couldn't put it out," Piper paused and then looked up at Phoebe with amazement flashing in her eyes. "See?" Piper asked and held up her arm and showed Phoebe that she had been burnt pretty badly.
"Piper! You need to tend to this." Phoebe said sternly. "It looks pretty bad."
Piper looked at her with a glazed look in her eyes and after a few moments it seemed like she stopped seeing Phoebe and was seeing something else entirely. She said, "Prue, don't, she's just a little girl, she didn't mean to. It was only an accident, stop getting so angry all the time. Don't worry about it. I can pay for it. You've gone down on her enough this week."
Phoebe looked around the room for something, she was not entirely sure what, but she had to do something. She practically drug Piper out into the sitting room. She sat her down on the couch and told her to stay. She turned to go back to the kitchen and heard a loud thump. She spun around and Piper was no longer on the couch, instead she was on the floor, out cold, or so Phoebe thought. Phoebe ran back to her sister, and heaved her up onto the couch once more. Piper grabbed a pillow and started to hug it tightly to her.
Phoebe ran into the kitchen and started to put the flames out with the fire extinguisher, luckily they had not done any real damage. Once the flames were out she picked up the phone and called Prue.
"Hello?" Prue answered.
"Prue, it's me. You need to get home, now." Phoebe said seriously.
"Wait, slow down, Pheebs, what's wrong?" Prue asked.
"Well, where should I start? Piper started a really big fire in the kitchen, she got a pretty bad burn, and I have a feeling she's drunk."
"Wait, you have a feeling?" Prue was a bit confused on that part. How do you not know for sure if someone is drunk? She asked herself.
"Yeah, okay, I'm pretty sure. Okay, no, I'm positive, she's as wasted as a goose on Christmas."
"What?" Prue asked wondering where that analogy came from.
"Um…nothing, I just need you to come home." Phoebe said.
"Right, well, I'm on my way." Prue said. "I'm off for lunch anyway."
"Guess this is another lunch date cancelled."
"Guess so. Bye, Pheebs."
"Bye, Prue." Phoebe said and they both hung up. Phoebe was about to return to the sitting room, hoping to find out what Piper had done to get drunk, but Phoebe remembered they did not have any alcoholic beverages in the house, they had run out of everything last week and no one had bought anything. She turned around before she left the kitchen and picked up the bottle Piper had been drinking from. It was just an old water bottle. Phoebe examined the bottle and remembered that someone had given them a water bottle full of vodka at New Years last year. Phoebe groaned and headed for the sitting room. Why would someone give me Vodka as a gift? Phoebe thought in frustration.
"Piper, Prue is on her…" She froze in mid sentence and started looking around the room. "…way? Piper?" Phoebe saw that Piper was no longer on the couch and started to call out for her. "Piper, where are you?"
Phoebe was about to run upstairs to look for Piper when she saw the front door was wide open. She ran to the door and saw Piper sitting on the front steps. She quickly went to her sister's side.
"Piper? What are you doing out here?" Phoebe asked softly.
"Daddy said he'd take me to see the circus. He promised he'd be here." Piper said.
"Sweetie," Phoebe felt a lump form in her throat and she didn't know what to say.
"Don't worry, Mommy. He wouldn't break another promise. He'll be here." Piper said.
Phoebe sat down next to her and put her arm around her sister and pulled Piper towards her. After a few minutes of silence Piper sat up and looked at Phoebe as though she had suddenly woken from a bad dream.
"I had forgotten all about that day. I waited for five hours that afternoon. I was such a little girl, I believed my daddy, and he lied to me. He didn't care. I remember Mom came out and picked me up saying it was dinner time." Piper said with a sad face. "I was so looking forward to that circus, I had never been before. Prue said he wouldn't come back, but I heard him come home that night. I also remember an argument that night. It wasn't until a long time after that day when he didn't come home again. That was when he left us all." Piper slowly stood up and walked into the house. Phoebe was sitting out on the porch by herself for a few minutes.
"Piper, you had to be, what? —three or four then, maybe five? How could you remember something like that?" Phoebe asked her sister while she was still in the foyer.
"I guess in the worst of times you remember the worst memories. Otherwise, I don't know, Pheebs." Piper said and the disappeared from the doorway.
Phoebe nearly had tears in her eyes; she let out a deep sigh and then noticed Prue coming down the road. She stood up, and Prue drove into the driveway and parked. When she got out she looked at Phoebe strangely.
"What's going on?" Prue asked her little sister.
"Piper is a little bit drunk." Phoebe said, "She found a bottle and thought it was water but it was just some old vodka that I totally forgot we had, it was in a water bottle. She said there was a little less than two glasses worth left in the bottle. Least I think that's what she meant. She said she had two of those really small glasses full."
"Piper works a bar at a club; you'd think she could tell the difference in taste." Prue said in reproof.
"Not, if she didn't want to." Phoebe said the thought aloud as it came to her. "After all, Vodka has no real taste." She added.
Prue linked her arm with Phoebe's arm, and they walked inside together. Piper was peeking out from behind the banisters on the stairs.
"Psst, Pheebs," Piper whispered. "Don't tell Prue you broke the lamp. Tell her I did it. Then when she comes home and sees it's broken, you won't get hurt."
"Prue's right here though, sweetie." Phoebe said.
"She doesn't know about her lamp yet. You just tell her it was all my fault if she yells at you." Piper said. "It was an accident. If she thinks it was all my fault and not yours then she won't get so mad."
"What lamp?" Prue asked surprised. "What'd you do to it?"
"Prue," Phoebe said under her breath beckoning her to keep quiet. "Piper, what happened?"
"Silly, don't you remember? You smashed up Prue's lamp while we were playing hide and seek. But that's okay, I love you still, and I'll pretend like I did it that way she won't hate you, she'll hate me instead." Piper peered around the banister and said, "Oh no! Here she comes! Remember, I'm not home yet, but tell her I broke it so she thinks I'm trying to avoid her."
With that Piper made to run up the stairs but lost her footing and started tumbling down. Prue and Phoebe both cried out in surprise and ran forward. Prue used her power to stop Piper from falling the rest of the way down the stairs. They got to her and helped her down the stairs. They sat her down on the couch again and Prue grabbed Phoebe and pulled her off to the side.
"Phoebe, I had totally forgotten that, but you guys broke my lamp years and years ago, why is she talking about it as though it were today?" Prue asked.
"I don't know, earlier she was outside waiting on Dad to pick her up for the circus." Phoebe said.
Prue looked at Phoebe a minute before an expression of recollection washed over her face. "Oh, I remember that." Prue said looking pitifully at Piper. "She waited on him for so long. I tried to make her feel better after dinner, but she just kept on crying and pushing me away."
"I didn't know." Phoebe said.
"You were still a little baby." Prue added. "But still that doesn't tell us why she would get drunk like this."
"She thought it was water." Phoebe reminded her.
"Yeah, but after the first sip you know it's not water, Vodka is real thick and feels slimy going down."
"Maybe she put ice in it; that would mask the slimy feeling a little." Phoebe offered as a reason.
"Prue?" Piper's voice brought them out of their conversation they both turned to look at Piper who was staring not at them, but at the cushion right next to her, which was empty. "Prue, I'm sorry." Piper said sympathetically, looking as though she were trying to be strong.
"What for?" Prue asked.
"He shouldn't have hurt you like that. I'd take away all the pain if I could, you know that." Piper said softly in a comforting tone.
Prue walked over to Piper's side and knelt down in front of her. She took Piper's hand up in her own and smiled. "It's not important now." She said.
"I should have done something, Prue. I knew all along, but I was angry because you had told me to stay out of your personal life. I saw him with her, but I couldn't bring myself to tell you. I didn't know how. I'm sorry, I wish I could make the hurt stop."
"It's okay, Piper, I'm fine now." Prue said. She kissed her sister lightly on the forehead and coaxed her into lying down.
"Phoebe," Piper's voice was hardly above a whisper and her eyes had finally lost that glazed over look.
"What is it?" Phoebe asked kneeling down alongside Prue next to Piper.
"I'm sorry I didn't go in with you that night,"
"What night?"
"The night he took you... I should have stayed with you. You wouldn't have been hurt so badly if I was more like Prue." Piper said softly. She was still talking with a slight slur in her speech. "Prue could have protected you, but I… I'll admit it, I was afraid, and because of that you were hurt. I'm so sorry, Pheebs."
Phoebe and Prue both knew that Piper was talking about the night when the Moloch had captured Phoebe and taken her to Azmodaeus in the dwarf's realm. He had tortured her with her own painful memories until she was ready to give her power and her life over to him.
"Piper, it wasn't your fault." Phoebe said sadly.
"Wasn't it? You were so brave, but I acted like a coward. I should have been at your side to take care of you." Piper started to get up, but Prue forced her back down. "Pheebs, I know that you haven't been sleeping, or eating right, and your health is suffering because of what he did to you. I can't take away what he did to you. I can't make it all better, and I can't help but feel responsible for what happened. Prue would have gone into the house with you, and you would be safe."
"Piper, it's not important. You need to get some sleep yourself. You need to sober up." Prue said.
"Prue's right, let's get you upstairs and into your bed." Phoebe said and she and Prue started to help Piper to her feet.
They finally got her into her room and into her bed. She went willingly enough. Prue and Phoebe stayed with her until she fell asleep, then they went down stairs and fixed themselves something to eat.
At the table, while eating their sandwiches, Phoebe broke the awkward silence. "I knew why I couldn't sleep, but I couldn't figure out what was bothering Piper. Now I know. It seems like somehow what Azmodaeus did to me is causing everyone else pain. Piper is drunk and as a result she is reverting to her childhood. If it hadn't been for me she would be fine."
"Pheebs, this isn't your fault. You didn't ask for what that demon did to you. He just did, it's what evil does. You can't blame yourself and neither can Piper."
"I know and I'm not, Prue, but Piper is going through this because of what happened. It's not that I want to blame myself but its fact, and I can't change that." Phoebe stood up and reached to get more Tea for herself and Prue. Prue grabbed Phoebe's arm and Phoebe stopped.
"Things will work out for the best, I promise." Prue said.
Phoebe put her left hand over Prue's hand and was suddenly hit with a premonition. She saw Piper lying in her bed sleeping, and then she saw a man looming over her with an athame in his hand. He cupped his hand over Piper's mouth, and then brought his arm up to stab but the vision cut off quickly. Phoebe slid down in the chair catching her breath.
"What was it?" Prue asked.
"Piper, we need to get upstairs, now." Phoebe said and left the kitchen with Prue close behind.
The both ran full speed up the stairs and when the burst into Piper's room. She was lying in bed asleep, although from the looks of it, it was a restless sleep. Prue sat down on the edge of Piper's bed, and she pushed some hair out of Piper's face. She said something that, Phoebe, in the doorway, could not quite hear, but Piper seemed to stop tossing and turning. Piper calmed down and finally looked peaceful in her sleep.
"What did you do?" Phoebe asked in a soft, awed voice.
"Just a little something I found out worked on the both of you when you were little." Prue replied in the same soft tone, and then a huge smile crossed her face and she had to suppress a fit of giggles. "I just remembered, one night I was watching a movie really late, and it was a really scary movie. Grams had told you that you two couldn't stay up and watch it with me because it would give you both nightmares, and I told her to let you because I thought you were both old enough to know the difference between reality and Hollywood."
"I vaguely remember that night. I was around nine years old, and Grams said we could do whatever we wanted but she would not stay up with me all night if I got scared." Phoebe said. "Grams told you that you'd be the one to stay up with us, and Piper and I thought you were really cool at that moment, letting us watch a really scary movie like that."
"Right, so you and Piper got up on the couch with me and we watched that horror film. During the middle you both keep sliding closer and closer to me in a very subtle manner until I hardly had any room to breathe." Prue continued quietly with her story, but Phoebe started laughing at the memory. "After the movie we all went to bed, and then I'm not sure what happened but you both ended up in my room."
"I got scared, I thought there was a killer outside my window, so I snuck into Piper's room, and she was on her way to mine. So, we both ran into each other at her door and got scared so we ran to our big sister, of course!" Phoebe said with a smile.
"After the few hours I had to spend telling you both how fake it all was, you finally fell asleep. You started having nightmares first, and I couldn't sleep cause you wouldn't lie still, and not to mention you kicked me in the shin a couple times." Prue said.
"I'm sorry about that. You know my legs have a mind of their own at night." Phoebe joked.
"Tell me about it. Anyway, I found out that if I held your hand, and let you hear my voice that you would eventually calm down and sleep peacefully. Piper would do this too, but she would always throw my hand away, just her hearing my voice would calm her. You were always reaching out for something, though, so I gave you my hand every time." Prue said, and then added, "And it still works today too."
Phoebe smiled and sat down next to Prue on the edge of Piper's bed. Then she cocked her head and looked at Prue, "So, it works on drunks too then?"
Prue just rolled her eyes and asked, "What was in your premonition? Cause she looks pretty safe."
"Well, I saw a man hanging over her bed with a knife and—" About that time Phoebe was interrupted by a man crashing through Piper's bedroom window. In her drunken stupor Piper slept right through it, never hearing a sound. Prue and Phoebe jumped up into defensive stances. Prue flung the man back out the window with her power. The sisters ran to the window to see where he was, but he was nowhere in sight.
"That was too easy." Prue said. "I wonder where he went."
"Okay, well I wanna know what or who he was or is." Phoebe said.
"B.O.S?" Prue asked.
"What if he comes back? Someone has to be here to watch her." Phoebe asked, and then Prue and Phoebe both looked up and yelled, "Leo!"
He orbed in surrounded by blue light and then asked, "What's wrong?"
"There's evil on the loose, you stay and watch her," Phoebe said, and pointed to Piper in her bed. "She's drunk, and you behave." Then both her and Prue ran out of the room heading for the attic. Leaving Leo to try and sort out all that she had said.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
"Maybe it was just a regular thief who thought he could handle a few women." Prue suggested.
"No, Prue, remember what I said about my premonition? I said he had a knife, well that knife was an athame." Phoebe said. "Plus, since when do 'regular' bad guys come after us?"
"You're right." Prue said.
They were both upstairs in the attic looking through the Book of Shadows. They had been searching for nearly ten minutes when Leo came into the room, both Prue and Phoebe immediately looked up at him.
"What is it?" They asked in unison.
"They're calling me. I have to go. I thought I'd tell you so one of you could watch Piper if you needed to, but I have to go, now." Leo said.
The sisters nodded and Leo orbed out. Prue said she'd go watch Piper since Phoebe could maneuver the book the best. Prue snuck quietly into Piper's room and sat down in a chair to the left of her sister's bed. After a few minutes Prue started to get drowsy, and so she started pacing the room trying to stay awake. Piper rolled over in her bed and called out for Prue. Prue quickly went to her side and sat down on the edge of her bed.
"I'm here, sweetie." Prue said softly, taking her sister's hand up in her own.
"Why did he leave? Why does everyone leave us?" Piper mumbled still asleep.
"Shh, try to sleep." Prue said.
"I was a good girl wasn't I?" She asked quietly.
"Yes, you were a perfect angel."
"Then why? Why do they always leave?"
"Piper, sweetie, they leave because they have to." Prue said, swallowing the lump in her throat. She remembered having this talk with her sister after their father had left, and their mother had died. "Sometimes they don't want to leave, but they just have to."
"It's still not fair." Piper muttered her voice dropping lower until it was hardly audible.
"I know." Prue said and Piper had nothing more to say. She just rolled over on her side, and Prue let go of her hand then pulled the blankets up around her.
Prue was sitting down as Phoebe came into the room.
"Find anything?" Prue asked.
"Nothing." Phoebe said sounding depressed.
Prue glanced at Piper again and Phoebe's eyes followed Prue's gaze.
"Is she sleeping good?" Phoebe asked.
"I can't really tell." Prue said without looking at Phoebe. "Remind me to never let her ever get drunk again."
"Right, so any ideas on how to get rid of the bad guy, whatever it was?" Phoebe asked pulling a chair over to where Prue sat.
"No, I just hope that They called Leo away about this." Prue replied. "If nothing else we could always write our own spell and pray that it'll work."
"Don't you have to get back to work, Prue?" Phoebe asked glancing at her watch.
"What time is it?" She asked.
"Almost two thirty." Phoebe answered.
"I can't go back to work, I guess I'll call in and tell them what's going on. I can actually be honest this time." Prue said looking at Piper. "I'll just tell them that my sister is not feeling well and that she's drunk and that you can't handle her alone."
"I guess that'll work, I mean it is true." Phoebe said.
"Stay here while I go call." Prue said, and then she stood and left the room.
Phoebe moved over to sit on the bed next to her sister. She looked up at the shattered window and decided it needed to be swept up and that she'd do it later. She sat there thinking about that night when Prue had coaxed Grams into letting her and Piper stay up and watch that movie. She remembered how scared she had been that night, but she didn't want to admit it, she wanted to appear strong. She laughed to herself and thought I have so many good memories with my sisters, why can I only remember the bad ones? At that moment Prue came back into the room and Leo orbed in all at the same time.
"Leo?" Prue said startled as she entered the room.
"Sorry, uh They called me to tell me about—"
"The guy who tried to attack Piper? Please say it's the guy that tried to attack Piper." Phoebe said cutting him off.
"Actually no, it's the Moloch. Remember Azmodaeus's little pet, well he's running rampant now that he has no master and he's gone on a killing spree. You have to vanquish it. It has no teleportation powers now or any other powers for that matter, so it will be easier to defeat." Leo explained.
"Okay, but what do we do with that guy that broke in here? We don't know if he was demon or warlock or what. He wasn't in the book." Prue told Leo.
"I'm not sure what to do about him, but innocent lives are being taken by this monster and it's up to you to kill it." Leo told her.
"Right, and I understand that, but we have more than one problem here. Piper is drunk, therefore the Power of Three is kind of at bay, and this guy, whatever he may be, is after us or just Piper, and one other thing this Moloch could be anywhere." Prue said.
"You'll have to take it one step at a time then. This Moloch doesn't need the Power of Three to be vanquished. I can take care of Piper while you kill it, and if this other guy comes back maybe I can figure out what he is." Leo compromised.
"Okay, but say we're off killing this Moloch, and you are with Piper, but you get called away. Then who will protect her? What if he attacks while you're with Them?" Phoebe asked.
"I don't know, but you have to do something, fast. I'll go see if They know anything about this other guy in the meantime you two need to discuss what you're going to do." Leo said, and with that he orbed away.
"Okay, well of course we have to stop the Moloch." Prue said.
"I agree, but we have to take Piper with us. Even though she's drunk she still has control over her power." Phoebe said.
"Okay, so then I guess we've got that all worked out. We'll take Piper and go vanquish the Moloch. Even if it doesn't require the Power of Three, I'd feel safer with her there. I'll go look in the book for a spell." Prue said. Phoebe nodded and Prue left.
"I guess I'll get Piper up." Phoebe said to herself. She walked over to Piper's bed and yanked back the covers. "Piper, honey, its time to get up. We have to go vanquishing." Phoebe started to shake Piper, and Piper finally sat up in her bed, rubbing her eyes.
"What time is it?" she mumbled.
"Around three, you need to get up." Phoebe said.
"Okay, I'm up, I'm up. What's going on?"
"Prue's in the attic looking for a spell to vanquish the Moloch. I need to go call Daryl and see what pattern the Moloch is taking in its killing spree that way we can find it faster."
Phoebe helped Piper out of bed and down the stairs. Piper sat down on the couch in the sitting room while Phoebe called Daryl. Meanwhile Prue had found the spell that was needed and was copying it down on a piece of paper. When Prue came downstairs Phoebe was still talking to Daryl, and Piper was up and walking around on her own without stumbling much. When they first found her she was hardly able to walk on her own which made Phoebe wonder how she had made it outside then up the stairs on her own. Prue and Phoebe had guessed it would take around three hours before she'd be able to walk normally again. It had been five hours since Piper had initially gotten drunk.
Upon seeing Piper up and about Prue crossed the room to ask her sister how she felt. She guessed, from the bits and pieces of their conversation that she caught that Phoebe would only be talking with Daryl for a few more minutes.
"Piper, how do you feel?" Prue asked.
"Like a truck just smashed into my head." Piper said and then added, "I couldn't find the aspirin, I looked everywhere I could think of."
"I have some in my purse. Let me go get it for you." Prue offered and then went to her purse and retrieved the pills. She went to the kitchen and came back with a glass of water to help wash them down.
"Thanks." Piper said after swallowing the aspirin. "What happened?" She asked. Piper vaguely remembering being in the kitchen to cook something for her and Phoebe to eat since she didn't know Prue was planning to take their little sister out for lunch.
"You tell me." Prue said. Piper looked confused so she added, "We're not entirely sure what happened."
"Well, I remember waking up around seven thirty, and I had breakfast. I went out and got the paper, and then I sat down and read it for a while. I watched a little television and then around eleven thirty I was cooking lunch. I figured I'd make some for myself and Phoebe, if she'd want any." Piper recalled and then she looked to be trying to remember what happened after that. "I got thirsty and went to get some water, we were out of mineral water, but I found one last bottle in the back of the fridge. So, I got a glass, put ice in it, and drank it. There wasn't really that much in the bottle. Then I don't really remember anything after that."
"Well, we'll have to fill you in later, right now we have to get to Golden Gate Park, it seems like this Moloch is hungry for tourists for some reason." Phoebe said coming over from the phone.
"That's a pretty good distance from here." Prue said. "But what else can we do? Piper, get what you need, and Phoebe make sure we have a spell to use on the other guy if he happens to attack us while we're getting rid of the Moloch. The spell might not work, but I'd rather have it in case. We'll leave after I've changed clothes, this dress isn't really the demon dueling type."
"Right, I'll be in the attic when you're ready to go." Phoebe said and darted up the stairs.
As soon as Phoebe and Prue had both gone upstairs Piper sat down on the couch to wait. She wasn't really sure what was going on. She tried to remember what had happened, but she couldn't remember anything, it was like she had just blacked out. While she sat there trying to recall something—anything from earlier in the day Leo orbed in.
"Okay, look, They say that They don't know anything about the other guy, but They'll call me if that changes. As for the Moloch they say you have to get rid of it now." He said.
Piper gave him a confused look and said, "Okay, well from what I know we're about to go after the Moloch as soon as Prue gets dressed, and as for the other guy, Phoebe is writing a spell that might and might not work on him if he attacks us. Now, as for me, I have no idea what is going on right now."
Leo suddenly remembered that Piper was completely unaware of what had happened earlier. He let out a sigh and said, "I forgot you don't know what's going on." He was just about to explain it all to her when They called him again. "And I'd love to fill you in myself, but They need me again. Just tell your sisters what I said." Piper nodded and Leo orbed out again.
When Prue came downstairs Piper related Leo's message to her. Prue called for Phoebe, and then the sisters left for Golden Gate Park. When they got to the park they all piled out of the car and started on their search. Prue helped Piper walk after seeing how see was still stumbling a bit.
"How do we find this thing?" Phoebe asked.
"I don't know, I mean to be perfectly honest I was half expecting a trail of bodies to follow, or something of the sort." Prue confessed.
They heard a high-pitched scream come from somewhere to the east of them. They all stopped and looked at one another.
"I take it that is our sign." Piper said. She had been filled in on the day's events during the car ride.
"Me too." Prue said and they started to run towards the scream. (Piper ran as best as she could with Prue and Phoebe holding her up.)
They ran until they were hiding behind a bush staring out at the scene. There were two bloody bodies on the ground, alive or not they couldn't tell. The Moloch was pacing back and forth at the bottom of a tree looking up patiently. There was a young woman in the tree; she had climbed up in safety. She looked shocked but otherwise unharmed aside from a few scratches.
"Okay, what now?" Phoebe asked.
"Well, I guess we do some vanquishing now." Prue said.
"Uh-oh!" Piper screamed and then froze everything.
"What?!" Phoebe shouted.
"That girl just fell out of that tree, we had better do something now!" Piper said. "And I mean fast!" She added as the girl unfroze and started falling, and Piper froze her once more. "I feel really weak, I don't know how long I can keep this up."
"Right, um Prue, just use your powers to put her back into the tree." Phoebe suggested.
Prue caught the girl and hurled her back into the tree just as Piper's freeze wore off. The Moloch jumped for the girl, and when she wasn't there he looked around in confusion. He had just seen her fall from the tree, and he knew it. He started to sniff the air furiously.
"Now would be a good time to vanquish our little hairy friend." Piper said.
Prue and Phoebe nodded their agreement and the three jumped out from their hiding place behind the bush, and the Moloch turned on them. The next thing Phoebe knew Prue and Piper were yanking her off the ground asking if she was okay.
"What the…?" Phoebe asked.
"Okay, this is not fair! Two against three!" Prue said gesturing toward the Moloch and the man that had suddenly appeared. Prue thought about her comment and said, "Okay so we out number them, but it's still not fair!"
"Guys," Piper said getting her sisters' attention. "I don't feel so well."
"Oh no, Piper, you can not get sick now! We can't deal with that and this all at the same time!" Phoebe practically shouted.
The man lunged at Prue and she flung him into a tree using her power. Phoebe fumbled around in her pocket for the 'just in case' spell. When she pulled it out he was just getting back to his feet. She yelled at her sisters and they ran to her side.
"We have to do this now." Phoebe said. "Cross your fingers!"
They started to recite the spell when the Moloch jumped at them. Piper froze it in mid-air. They once again started the spell again while the man got closer.
"Demon or Warlock, whatever evil you may be,
Depart now, from we sisters three,
Be slung into time and space,
Think twice next before you show your face."
They looked up from the paper and the man was slowly becoming transparent as his molecules were sent into a thousand different directions.
"I couldn't think of a way to vanquish him so I wrote a spell to buy us some time. I don't know how long it will be before he comes back." Phoebe said. "And I know that spell was cheesy, but I was lacking in time."
"You don't hear me complaining." Piper said.
"Okay, remember, big hairy dog monster." Prue said pointing. "Time to vanquish that thing."
"Okay, Prue, you're supposed to have the spell to vanquish it." Phoebe said.
"Oh, right." Prue reached into her pocket and pulled out her piece of paper. "Here, lets get this done with." She said to Phoebe.
They began to recite the spell to vanquish the Moloch when it unfroze and tackled Phoebe. She struggled to fight it off of her, but it had feet that worked like hands and they were wrapped around her wrists. She kicked at it, and it acted as though it had not felt a thing. Prue picked up a really big branch and swung at the beast, it hit him hard in the back of the head. However, the Moloch didn't move a muscle. Phoebe used all her strength and finally wrenched one hand free, she punched the Moloch in the eye and he let go of her other hand rubbing at his own eye. She tried to push him off, but he bit down on her as she did so. He was heaved to the side giving Phoebe just enough time to get up. She wrapped her arm up in her jacket and was applying pressure to the wound. It was serious, and she was beginning to feel light headed due to the amount of blood she was losing.
Prue and Piper put their arms around Phoebe giving her something to lean on and they finally recited the spell. Prue had to use her power to hold the thing back. The Moloch melted into a red puddle of goop, and then the puddle evaporated into a black mist. Phoebe muttered something and then fell to the ground unconscious.
When she woke again she was in a hospital bed. She heard Prue telling the doctor that a wild, stray dog had attacked them and then run off. She looked to her side and Piper was sitting in a chair next to the bed with her own arm bandaged up.
"Oh, Pheebs, you're awake." Piper stated.
"Yeah," She tried to sit up, but she forgot about her arm and put too much pressure on it causing her to fall back down.
"Stop, just lay still. They're gonna stitch you up and bandage your arm, and then we can go home." Piper said.
"What happened?" Phoebe asked. "Did we get it?"
"Yeah, sweetie, we got it. It bit you first, but we got it." Piper said.
"I hope that thing wasn't anything like the Wendigo or else I'm in trouble." Phoebe joked.
"No, you would've seen changes by now. We've been here quite some time, Pheebs." Piper said. "You lost a lot of blood, the doctor said you'd be asleep longer than this even."
"How long have I been out?" Phoebe asked.
"About five hours." Prue said joining them. "Doc says there's no infection, so that's good."
"Five hours? Are you serious?" Phoebe asked. Prue walked over and put some pillows behind Phoebe's head and back so that she could sit up a bit.
"Yeah, you lost a lot of blood. They almost did a blood transfusion, but they decided it wasn't that serious. Beginning doctors…sheesh." Prue said with a smile. "When the Moloch bit you it hit some of the major veins in your arm and wrist. You might have some scarring, but the doc says from the looks of it you might get lucky and have nothing to show for it."
"Was the girl—?"
"Fine?" Piper finished. "Yeah and those bodies we saw were her parents, neither one was dead just seriously injured. We brought them back with us; they're in critical condition, though. The girl didn't see any of us use our powers though, she was too busy hiding, so our secret is safe, yet again. The doctors believe it was a very large dog that attacked us so they've warned dogcatchers to keep their eyes open."
"That's good. What happened to you?" Phoebe asked finally noticing Piper's bandaged arm.
"Oh, just a little burn. It'll heal properly. Nothing to worry about at all." Piper said.
"That's good." Phoebe said with a sigh. She leaned her head back and closed her eyes. Prue looked at Piper and smiled. Then Phoebe jerked her head up.
"What?" Piper asked startled.
"They're gone!" Phoebe said with a long sigh of relief. "I hadn't noticed till now."
"Who are gone, Pheebs?" Prue asked.
"Those stupid memories that were taunting me." Phoebe had a huge smile spreading across her face.
"Good, maybe now you can get some sleep and eat right again." Piper said.
"Of course." Phoebe said. Then under her breath she added, "mother."
"Hey, I didn't have my hearing damaged!" Piper snapped jokingly.
The doctors came in, stitched Phoebe's arm up, and then they bandaged it. They filled out some more paper work, and then the Halliwell's were allowed to leave and go home. On the way to the car Phoebe looked at Prue with a worried face and asked, "They didn't draw any of my blood did they?"
"As a matter of fact they did, but I sort of stole it." Prue said pulling a little vile out of her purse. "We don't want history to repeat itself, do we?"
"Who would want such a thing?" Piper asked sarcastically with a sly little grin.
Sequel to 'Fairly Reality'
By: Gemini
Prue's alarm clock buzzed, it was four thirty already. She felt around her nightstand for the blasted noisemaker and ended up knocking it into the floor still buzzing. She crawled out of bed, picked up the clock, and turned it off looking at the time. She had an early photo shoot this morning. She sighed and went to the bathroom hoping that if she splashed some cold water on her face it would wake her up. She was sure to be quiet, so that she did not wake up her sisters. She knew that Phoebe had not been sleeping well since her encounter with the Memory Demon, and Piper's own worry had been keeping her up lately as well. She went into the bathroom and washed her face, took her shower, and then got dressed to go. She picked up her equipment and headed to the kitchen for a quick breakfast. When she entered the kitchen Phoebe was sitting at the table sipping at a cup of coffee.
"What are you doing up so early? It's only five o'clock." Phoebe asked Prue.
"I was about to ask the same question of you. I have a photo shoot at six o'clock at one of the parks downtown; some kind of sunrise theme. What about you?" Prue returned the question.
"I was planning on going to bed before you and Piper woke up. That way it would look like I had at least gone to bed." Phoebe confessed.
"You've been up all night long? Again?" Prue asked sounding worried. "Phoebe, you can't keep doing this, it's unhealthy, and you have to get some sleep. How many nights have you done this?"
"I know, I know. It's just that ever since we faced that Memory Demon I haven't been able to get a good night's sleep. I can't even close my eyes without seeing something I've tried so hard to forget." Phoebe explained. "And I've only done this," She gestured to the situation. "a few times."
"Do you want to talk about it? I've got a few minutes before I have to leave." Prue offered.
"There's not really anything to talk about." Phoebe said taking another sip of her coffee. "But I do think it's getting better. I actually slept well for a few hours this week, and even though it wasn't that much time, believe me, it was extremely welcome."
"I hope this gets better soon, I'm worried about you, and I know Piper is too." Prue said drawing her brows together in concern.
"Well, I guess I'll head upstairs then. How bout we don't tell Piper about me staying up all night? I don't need to hear another lecture." Phoebe said with a smile.
"Only if you promise to try and get some real sleep." Prue said. "You're starting to lose your color, and not to mention those awful rings around your eyes." Prue smiled.
"Okay, I promise I'll try." Phoebe agreed.
Prue walked Phoebe to her room and made sure that she got into bed, practically tucking her in. She kissed her on the forehead and said she would see her later. They agreed to have lunch together, and then Prue left for work. Phoebe slowly drifted off into a fitful sleep. She woke up again around noon. The sun was stealing into her room through a crack in the curtains. She rolled over trying to avoid the sunny rays, but she could not get back to sleep. She lay there looking up at the ceiling awhile before finally crawling out of bed and getting dressed. Lunch with Prue was in an hour; it was going to be a late lunch.
Phoebe was in the hallway upstairs and could smell something burning in the house. She did not know what it was, but she didn't think it was good. She rushed through the hall and down the stairs worried that there might be an electrical fire in the house somewhere. She followed the smell as it got stronger, and she ended up in the kitchen. Piper was sitting at a table with her head lying in her arms. She either did not hear Phoebe come in or didn't care because she didn't look up.
"Piper?" Phoebe said wondering what was going on. She glanced at the stove and saw a tremendous fire blazing out of control. Piper looked up at Phoebe. She stood up with a glass in her hand and stumbled to Phoebe's side. She lost her balance and started to fall but Phoebe caught her and steadied her. "What's wrong sweetie?" Phoebe asked in a hurry wanting to deal with the fire.
"I wanteed to make you and me something to eat," Piper said with a slur. Then she shook her head and threw down the glass. She turned to the fire and froze it. Phoebe nearly let out a sigh of relief. "This whole damned day has been nothing but trouble sinced it started." Piper said slightly angry. She looked up at her younger sister and smiled, her eyes had a faint foggy look to them. Then she touched Phoebe in the middle of the forehead. "Grams smeared her lipstick on you, honey. You can't go to school like that, everyone will laugh at you." She started to gently rub Phoebe's forehead clean.
Phoebe took Piper's hand away from her forehead and started patting it with her other hand. "Piper, what did you do today?" Phoebe asked getting more concerned with every passing moment.
"I—I was…I was just cooking, and I got thirsty, and so I had a glass of water, and then I got more thirsty, and I had one more drink, and then the bottle was empty and the stove was on fire, and I couldn't put it out," Piper paused and then looked up at Phoebe with amazement flashing in her eyes. "See?" Piper asked and held up her arm and showed Phoebe that she had been burnt pretty badly.
"Piper! You need to tend to this." Phoebe said sternly. "It looks pretty bad."
Piper looked at her with a glazed look in her eyes and after a few moments it seemed like she stopped seeing Phoebe and was seeing something else entirely. She said, "Prue, don't, she's just a little girl, she didn't mean to. It was only an accident, stop getting so angry all the time. Don't worry about it. I can pay for it. You've gone down on her enough this week."
Phoebe looked around the room for something, she was not entirely sure what, but she had to do something. She practically drug Piper out into the sitting room. She sat her down on the couch and told her to stay. She turned to go back to the kitchen and heard a loud thump. She spun around and Piper was no longer on the couch, instead she was on the floor, out cold, or so Phoebe thought. Phoebe ran back to her sister, and heaved her up onto the couch once more. Piper grabbed a pillow and started to hug it tightly to her.
Phoebe ran into the kitchen and started to put the flames out with the fire extinguisher, luckily they had not done any real damage. Once the flames were out she picked up the phone and called Prue.
"Hello?" Prue answered.
"Prue, it's me. You need to get home, now." Phoebe said seriously.
"Wait, slow down, Pheebs, what's wrong?" Prue asked.
"Well, where should I start? Piper started a really big fire in the kitchen, she got a pretty bad burn, and I have a feeling she's drunk."
"Wait, you have a feeling?" Prue was a bit confused on that part. How do you not know for sure if someone is drunk? She asked herself.
"Yeah, okay, I'm pretty sure. Okay, no, I'm positive, she's as wasted as a goose on Christmas."
"What?" Prue asked wondering where that analogy came from.
"Um…nothing, I just need you to come home." Phoebe said.
"Right, well, I'm on my way." Prue said. "I'm off for lunch anyway."
"Guess this is another lunch date cancelled."
"Guess so. Bye, Pheebs."
"Bye, Prue." Phoebe said and they both hung up. Phoebe was about to return to the sitting room, hoping to find out what Piper had done to get drunk, but Phoebe remembered they did not have any alcoholic beverages in the house, they had run out of everything last week and no one had bought anything. She turned around before she left the kitchen and picked up the bottle Piper had been drinking from. It was just an old water bottle. Phoebe examined the bottle and remembered that someone had given them a water bottle full of vodka at New Years last year. Phoebe groaned and headed for the sitting room. Why would someone give me Vodka as a gift? Phoebe thought in frustration.
"Piper, Prue is on her…" She froze in mid sentence and started looking around the room. "…way? Piper?" Phoebe saw that Piper was no longer on the couch and started to call out for her. "Piper, where are you?"
Phoebe was about to run upstairs to look for Piper when she saw the front door was wide open. She ran to the door and saw Piper sitting on the front steps. She quickly went to her sister's side.
"Piper? What are you doing out here?" Phoebe asked softly.
"Daddy said he'd take me to see the circus. He promised he'd be here." Piper said.
"Sweetie," Phoebe felt a lump form in her throat and she didn't know what to say.
"Don't worry, Mommy. He wouldn't break another promise. He'll be here." Piper said.
Phoebe sat down next to her and put her arm around her sister and pulled Piper towards her. After a few minutes of silence Piper sat up and looked at Phoebe as though she had suddenly woken from a bad dream.
"I had forgotten all about that day. I waited for five hours that afternoon. I was such a little girl, I believed my daddy, and he lied to me. He didn't care. I remember Mom came out and picked me up saying it was dinner time." Piper said with a sad face. "I was so looking forward to that circus, I had never been before. Prue said he wouldn't come back, but I heard him come home that night. I also remember an argument that night. It wasn't until a long time after that day when he didn't come home again. That was when he left us all." Piper slowly stood up and walked into the house. Phoebe was sitting out on the porch by herself for a few minutes.
"Piper, you had to be, what? —three or four then, maybe five? How could you remember something like that?" Phoebe asked her sister while she was still in the foyer.
"I guess in the worst of times you remember the worst memories. Otherwise, I don't know, Pheebs." Piper said and the disappeared from the doorway.
Phoebe nearly had tears in her eyes; she let out a deep sigh and then noticed Prue coming down the road. She stood up, and Prue drove into the driveway and parked. When she got out she looked at Phoebe strangely.
"What's going on?" Prue asked her little sister.
"Piper is a little bit drunk." Phoebe said, "She found a bottle and thought it was water but it was just some old vodka that I totally forgot we had, it was in a water bottle. She said there was a little less than two glasses worth left in the bottle. Least I think that's what she meant. She said she had two of those really small glasses full."
"Piper works a bar at a club; you'd think she could tell the difference in taste." Prue said in reproof.
"Not, if she didn't want to." Phoebe said the thought aloud as it came to her. "After all, Vodka has no real taste." She added.
Prue linked her arm with Phoebe's arm, and they walked inside together. Piper was peeking out from behind the banisters on the stairs.
"Psst, Pheebs," Piper whispered. "Don't tell Prue you broke the lamp. Tell her I did it. Then when she comes home and sees it's broken, you won't get hurt."
"Prue's right here though, sweetie." Phoebe said.
"She doesn't know about her lamp yet. You just tell her it was all my fault if she yells at you." Piper said. "It was an accident. If she thinks it was all my fault and not yours then she won't get so mad."
"What lamp?" Prue asked surprised. "What'd you do to it?"
"Prue," Phoebe said under her breath beckoning her to keep quiet. "Piper, what happened?"
"Silly, don't you remember? You smashed up Prue's lamp while we were playing hide and seek. But that's okay, I love you still, and I'll pretend like I did it that way she won't hate you, she'll hate me instead." Piper peered around the banister and said, "Oh no! Here she comes! Remember, I'm not home yet, but tell her I broke it so she thinks I'm trying to avoid her."
With that Piper made to run up the stairs but lost her footing and started tumbling down. Prue and Phoebe both cried out in surprise and ran forward. Prue used her power to stop Piper from falling the rest of the way down the stairs. They got to her and helped her down the stairs. They sat her down on the couch again and Prue grabbed Phoebe and pulled her off to the side.
"Phoebe, I had totally forgotten that, but you guys broke my lamp years and years ago, why is she talking about it as though it were today?" Prue asked.
"I don't know, earlier she was outside waiting on Dad to pick her up for the circus." Phoebe said.
Prue looked at Phoebe a minute before an expression of recollection washed over her face. "Oh, I remember that." Prue said looking pitifully at Piper. "She waited on him for so long. I tried to make her feel better after dinner, but she just kept on crying and pushing me away."
"I didn't know." Phoebe said.
"You were still a little baby." Prue added. "But still that doesn't tell us why she would get drunk like this."
"She thought it was water." Phoebe reminded her.
"Yeah, but after the first sip you know it's not water, Vodka is real thick and feels slimy going down."
"Maybe she put ice in it; that would mask the slimy feeling a little." Phoebe offered as a reason.
"Prue?" Piper's voice brought them out of their conversation they both turned to look at Piper who was staring not at them, but at the cushion right next to her, which was empty. "Prue, I'm sorry." Piper said sympathetically, looking as though she were trying to be strong.
"What for?" Prue asked.
"He shouldn't have hurt you like that. I'd take away all the pain if I could, you know that." Piper said softly in a comforting tone.
Prue walked over to Piper's side and knelt down in front of her. She took Piper's hand up in her own and smiled. "It's not important now." She said.
"I should have done something, Prue. I knew all along, but I was angry because you had told me to stay out of your personal life. I saw him with her, but I couldn't bring myself to tell you. I didn't know how. I'm sorry, I wish I could make the hurt stop."
"It's okay, Piper, I'm fine now." Prue said. She kissed her sister lightly on the forehead and coaxed her into lying down.
"Phoebe," Piper's voice was hardly above a whisper and her eyes had finally lost that glazed over look.
"What is it?" Phoebe asked kneeling down alongside Prue next to Piper.
"I'm sorry I didn't go in with you that night,"
"What night?"
"The night he took you... I should have stayed with you. You wouldn't have been hurt so badly if I was more like Prue." Piper said softly. She was still talking with a slight slur in her speech. "Prue could have protected you, but I… I'll admit it, I was afraid, and because of that you were hurt. I'm so sorry, Pheebs."
Phoebe and Prue both knew that Piper was talking about the night when the Moloch had captured Phoebe and taken her to Azmodaeus in the dwarf's realm. He had tortured her with her own painful memories until she was ready to give her power and her life over to him.
"Piper, it wasn't your fault." Phoebe said sadly.
"Wasn't it? You were so brave, but I acted like a coward. I should have been at your side to take care of you." Piper started to get up, but Prue forced her back down. "Pheebs, I know that you haven't been sleeping, or eating right, and your health is suffering because of what he did to you. I can't take away what he did to you. I can't make it all better, and I can't help but feel responsible for what happened. Prue would have gone into the house with you, and you would be safe."
"Piper, it's not important. You need to get some sleep yourself. You need to sober up." Prue said.
"Prue's right, let's get you upstairs and into your bed." Phoebe said and she and Prue started to help Piper to her feet.
They finally got her into her room and into her bed. She went willingly enough. Prue and Phoebe stayed with her until she fell asleep, then they went down stairs and fixed themselves something to eat.
At the table, while eating their sandwiches, Phoebe broke the awkward silence. "I knew why I couldn't sleep, but I couldn't figure out what was bothering Piper. Now I know. It seems like somehow what Azmodaeus did to me is causing everyone else pain. Piper is drunk and as a result she is reverting to her childhood. If it hadn't been for me she would be fine."
"Pheebs, this isn't your fault. You didn't ask for what that demon did to you. He just did, it's what evil does. You can't blame yourself and neither can Piper."
"I know and I'm not, Prue, but Piper is going through this because of what happened. It's not that I want to blame myself but its fact, and I can't change that." Phoebe stood up and reached to get more Tea for herself and Prue. Prue grabbed Phoebe's arm and Phoebe stopped.
"Things will work out for the best, I promise." Prue said.
Phoebe put her left hand over Prue's hand and was suddenly hit with a premonition. She saw Piper lying in her bed sleeping, and then she saw a man looming over her with an athame in his hand. He cupped his hand over Piper's mouth, and then brought his arm up to stab but the vision cut off quickly. Phoebe slid down in the chair catching her breath.
"What was it?" Prue asked.
"Piper, we need to get upstairs, now." Phoebe said and left the kitchen with Prue close behind.
The both ran full speed up the stairs and when the burst into Piper's room. She was lying in bed asleep, although from the looks of it, it was a restless sleep. Prue sat down on the edge of Piper's bed, and she pushed some hair out of Piper's face. She said something that, Phoebe, in the doorway, could not quite hear, but Piper seemed to stop tossing and turning. Piper calmed down and finally looked peaceful in her sleep.
"What did you do?" Phoebe asked in a soft, awed voice.
"Just a little something I found out worked on the both of you when you were little." Prue replied in the same soft tone, and then a huge smile crossed her face and she had to suppress a fit of giggles. "I just remembered, one night I was watching a movie really late, and it was a really scary movie. Grams had told you that you two couldn't stay up and watch it with me because it would give you both nightmares, and I told her to let you because I thought you were both old enough to know the difference between reality and Hollywood."
"I vaguely remember that night. I was around nine years old, and Grams said we could do whatever we wanted but she would not stay up with me all night if I got scared." Phoebe said. "Grams told you that you'd be the one to stay up with us, and Piper and I thought you were really cool at that moment, letting us watch a really scary movie like that."
"Right, so you and Piper got up on the couch with me and we watched that horror film. During the middle you both keep sliding closer and closer to me in a very subtle manner until I hardly had any room to breathe." Prue continued quietly with her story, but Phoebe started laughing at the memory. "After the movie we all went to bed, and then I'm not sure what happened but you both ended up in my room."
"I got scared, I thought there was a killer outside my window, so I snuck into Piper's room, and she was on her way to mine. So, we both ran into each other at her door and got scared so we ran to our big sister, of course!" Phoebe said with a smile.
"After the few hours I had to spend telling you both how fake it all was, you finally fell asleep. You started having nightmares first, and I couldn't sleep cause you wouldn't lie still, and not to mention you kicked me in the shin a couple times." Prue said.
"I'm sorry about that. You know my legs have a mind of their own at night." Phoebe joked.
"Tell me about it. Anyway, I found out that if I held your hand, and let you hear my voice that you would eventually calm down and sleep peacefully. Piper would do this too, but she would always throw my hand away, just her hearing my voice would calm her. You were always reaching out for something, though, so I gave you my hand every time." Prue said, and then added, "And it still works today too."
Phoebe smiled and sat down next to Prue on the edge of Piper's bed. Then she cocked her head and looked at Prue, "So, it works on drunks too then?"
Prue just rolled her eyes and asked, "What was in your premonition? Cause she looks pretty safe."
"Well, I saw a man hanging over her bed with a knife and—" About that time Phoebe was interrupted by a man crashing through Piper's bedroom window. In her drunken stupor Piper slept right through it, never hearing a sound. Prue and Phoebe jumped up into defensive stances. Prue flung the man back out the window with her power. The sisters ran to the window to see where he was, but he was nowhere in sight.
"That was too easy." Prue said. "I wonder where he went."
"Okay, well I wanna know what or who he was or is." Phoebe said.
"B.O.S?" Prue asked.
"What if he comes back? Someone has to be here to watch her." Phoebe asked, and then Prue and Phoebe both looked up and yelled, "Leo!"
He orbed in surrounded by blue light and then asked, "What's wrong?"
"There's evil on the loose, you stay and watch her," Phoebe said, and pointed to Piper in her bed. "She's drunk, and you behave." Then both her and Prue ran out of the room heading for the attic. Leaving Leo to try and sort out all that she had said.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
"Maybe it was just a regular thief who thought he could handle a few women." Prue suggested.
"No, Prue, remember what I said about my premonition? I said he had a knife, well that knife was an athame." Phoebe said. "Plus, since when do 'regular' bad guys come after us?"
"You're right." Prue said.
They were both upstairs in the attic looking through the Book of Shadows. They had been searching for nearly ten minutes when Leo came into the room, both Prue and Phoebe immediately looked up at him.
"What is it?" They asked in unison.
"They're calling me. I have to go. I thought I'd tell you so one of you could watch Piper if you needed to, but I have to go, now." Leo said.
The sisters nodded and Leo orbed out. Prue said she'd go watch Piper since Phoebe could maneuver the book the best. Prue snuck quietly into Piper's room and sat down in a chair to the left of her sister's bed. After a few minutes Prue started to get drowsy, and so she started pacing the room trying to stay awake. Piper rolled over in her bed and called out for Prue. Prue quickly went to her side and sat down on the edge of her bed.
"I'm here, sweetie." Prue said softly, taking her sister's hand up in her own.
"Why did he leave? Why does everyone leave us?" Piper mumbled still asleep.
"Shh, try to sleep." Prue said.
"I was a good girl wasn't I?" She asked quietly.
"Yes, you were a perfect angel."
"Then why? Why do they always leave?"
"Piper, sweetie, they leave because they have to." Prue said, swallowing the lump in her throat. She remembered having this talk with her sister after their father had left, and their mother had died. "Sometimes they don't want to leave, but they just have to."
"It's still not fair." Piper muttered her voice dropping lower until it was hardly audible.
"I know." Prue said and Piper had nothing more to say. She just rolled over on her side, and Prue let go of her hand then pulled the blankets up around her.
Prue was sitting down as Phoebe came into the room.
"Find anything?" Prue asked.
"Nothing." Phoebe said sounding depressed.
Prue glanced at Piper again and Phoebe's eyes followed Prue's gaze.
"Is she sleeping good?" Phoebe asked.
"I can't really tell." Prue said without looking at Phoebe. "Remind me to never let her ever get drunk again."
"Right, so any ideas on how to get rid of the bad guy, whatever it was?" Phoebe asked pulling a chair over to where Prue sat.
"No, I just hope that They called Leo away about this." Prue replied. "If nothing else we could always write our own spell and pray that it'll work."
"Don't you have to get back to work, Prue?" Phoebe asked glancing at her watch.
"What time is it?" She asked.
"Almost two thirty." Phoebe answered.
"I can't go back to work, I guess I'll call in and tell them what's going on. I can actually be honest this time." Prue said looking at Piper. "I'll just tell them that my sister is not feeling well and that she's drunk and that you can't handle her alone."
"I guess that'll work, I mean it is true." Phoebe said.
"Stay here while I go call." Prue said, and then she stood and left the room.
Phoebe moved over to sit on the bed next to her sister. She looked up at the shattered window and decided it needed to be swept up and that she'd do it later. She sat there thinking about that night when Prue had coaxed Grams into letting her and Piper stay up and watch that movie. She remembered how scared she had been that night, but she didn't want to admit it, she wanted to appear strong. She laughed to herself and thought I have so many good memories with my sisters, why can I only remember the bad ones? At that moment Prue came back into the room and Leo orbed in all at the same time.
"Leo?" Prue said startled as she entered the room.
"Sorry, uh They called me to tell me about—"
"The guy who tried to attack Piper? Please say it's the guy that tried to attack Piper." Phoebe said cutting him off.
"Actually no, it's the Moloch. Remember Azmodaeus's little pet, well he's running rampant now that he has no master and he's gone on a killing spree. You have to vanquish it. It has no teleportation powers now or any other powers for that matter, so it will be easier to defeat." Leo explained.
"Okay, but what do we do with that guy that broke in here? We don't know if he was demon or warlock or what. He wasn't in the book." Prue told Leo.
"I'm not sure what to do about him, but innocent lives are being taken by this monster and it's up to you to kill it." Leo told her.
"Right, and I understand that, but we have more than one problem here. Piper is drunk, therefore the Power of Three is kind of at bay, and this guy, whatever he may be, is after us or just Piper, and one other thing this Moloch could be anywhere." Prue said.
"You'll have to take it one step at a time then. This Moloch doesn't need the Power of Three to be vanquished. I can take care of Piper while you kill it, and if this other guy comes back maybe I can figure out what he is." Leo compromised.
"Okay, but say we're off killing this Moloch, and you are with Piper, but you get called away. Then who will protect her? What if he attacks while you're with Them?" Phoebe asked.
"I don't know, but you have to do something, fast. I'll go see if They know anything about this other guy in the meantime you two need to discuss what you're going to do." Leo said, and with that he orbed away.
"Okay, well of course we have to stop the Moloch." Prue said.
"I agree, but we have to take Piper with us. Even though she's drunk she still has control over her power." Phoebe said.
"Okay, so then I guess we've got that all worked out. We'll take Piper and go vanquish the Moloch. Even if it doesn't require the Power of Three, I'd feel safer with her there. I'll go look in the book for a spell." Prue said. Phoebe nodded and Prue left.
"I guess I'll get Piper up." Phoebe said to herself. She walked over to Piper's bed and yanked back the covers. "Piper, honey, its time to get up. We have to go vanquishing." Phoebe started to shake Piper, and Piper finally sat up in her bed, rubbing her eyes.
"What time is it?" she mumbled.
"Around three, you need to get up." Phoebe said.
"Okay, I'm up, I'm up. What's going on?"
"Prue's in the attic looking for a spell to vanquish the Moloch. I need to go call Daryl and see what pattern the Moloch is taking in its killing spree that way we can find it faster."
Phoebe helped Piper out of bed and down the stairs. Piper sat down on the couch in the sitting room while Phoebe called Daryl. Meanwhile Prue had found the spell that was needed and was copying it down on a piece of paper. When Prue came downstairs Phoebe was still talking to Daryl, and Piper was up and walking around on her own without stumbling much. When they first found her she was hardly able to walk on her own which made Phoebe wonder how she had made it outside then up the stairs on her own. Prue and Phoebe had guessed it would take around three hours before she'd be able to walk normally again. It had been five hours since Piper had initially gotten drunk.
Upon seeing Piper up and about Prue crossed the room to ask her sister how she felt. She guessed, from the bits and pieces of their conversation that she caught that Phoebe would only be talking with Daryl for a few more minutes.
"Piper, how do you feel?" Prue asked.
"Like a truck just smashed into my head." Piper said and then added, "I couldn't find the aspirin, I looked everywhere I could think of."
"I have some in my purse. Let me go get it for you." Prue offered and then went to her purse and retrieved the pills. She went to the kitchen and came back with a glass of water to help wash them down.
"Thanks." Piper said after swallowing the aspirin. "What happened?" She asked. Piper vaguely remembering being in the kitchen to cook something for her and Phoebe to eat since she didn't know Prue was planning to take their little sister out for lunch.
"You tell me." Prue said. Piper looked confused so she added, "We're not entirely sure what happened."
"Well, I remember waking up around seven thirty, and I had breakfast. I went out and got the paper, and then I sat down and read it for a while. I watched a little television and then around eleven thirty I was cooking lunch. I figured I'd make some for myself and Phoebe, if she'd want any." Piper recalled and then she looked to be trying to remember what happened after that. "I got thirsty and went to get some water, we were out of mineral water, but I found one last bottle in the back of the fridge. So, I got a glass, put ice in it, and drank it. There wasn't really that much in the bottle. Then I don't really remember anything after that."
"Well, we'll have to fill you in later, right now we have to get to Golden Gate Park, it seems like this Moloch is hungry for tourists for some reason." Phoebe said coming over from the phone.
"That's a pretty good distance from here." Prue said. "But what else can we do? Piper, get what you need, and Phoebe make sure we have a spell to use on the other guy if he happens to attack us while we're getting rid of the Moloch. The spell might not work, but I'd rather have it in case. We'll leave after I've changed clothes, this dress isn't really the demon dueling type."
"Right, I'll be in the attic when you're ready to go." Phoebe said and darted up the stairs.
As soon as Phoebe and Prue had both gone upstairs Piper sat down on the couch to wait. She wasn't really sure what was going on. She tried to remember what had happened, but she couldn't remember anything, it was like she had just blacked out. While she sat there trying to recall something—anything from earlier in the day Leo orbed in.
"Okay, look, They say that They don't know anything about the other guy, but They'll call me if that changes. As for the Moloch they say you have to get rid of it now." He said.
Piper gave him a confused look and said, "Okay, well from what I know we're about to go after the Moloch as soon as Prue gets dressed, and as for the other guy, Phoebe is writing a spell that might and might not work on him if he attacks us. Now, as for me, I have no idea what is going on right now."
Leo suddenly remembered that Piper was completely unaware of what had happened earlier. He let out a sigh and said, "I forgot you don't know what's going on." He was just about to explain it all to her when They called him again. "And I'd love to fill you in myself, but They need me again. Just tell your sisters what I said." Piper nodded and Leo orbed out again.
When Prue came downstairs Piper related Leo's message to her. Prue called for Phoebe, and then the sisters left for Golden Gate Park. When they got to the park they all piled out of the car and started on their search. Prue helped Piper walk after seeing how see was still stumbling a bit.
"How do we find this thing?" Phoebe asked.
"I don't know, I mean to be perfectly honest I was half expecting a trail of bodies to follow, or something of the sort." Prue confessed.
They heard a high-pitched scream come from somewhere to the east of them. They all stopped and looked at one another.
"I take it that is our sign." Piper said. She had been filled in on the day's events during the car ride.
"Me too." Prue said and they started to run towards the scream. (Piper ran as best as she could with Prue and Phoebe holding her up.)
They ran until they were hiding behind a bush staring out at the scene. There were two bloody bodies on the ground, alive or not they couldn't tell. The Moloch was pacing back and forth at the bottom of a tree looking up patiently. There was a young woman in the tree; she had climbed up in safety. She looked shocked but otherwise unharmed aside from a few scratches.
"Okay, what now?" Phoebe asked.
"Well, I guess we do some vanquishing now." Prue said.
"Uh-oh!" Piper screamed and then froze everything.
"What?!" Phoebe shouted.
"That girl just fell out of that tree, we had better do something now!" Piper said. "And I mean fast!" She added as the girl unfroze and started falling, and Piper froze her once more. "I feel really weak, I don't know how long I can keep this up."
"Right, um Prue, just use your powers to put her back into the tree." Phoebe suggested.
Prue caught the girl and hurled her back into the tree just as Piper's freeze wore off. The Moloch jumped for the girl, and when she wasn't there he looked around in confusion. He had just seen her fall from the tree, and he knew it. He started to sniff the air furiously.
"Now would be a good time to vanquish our little hairy friend." Piper said.
Prue and Phoebe nodded their agreement and the three jumped out from their hiding place behind the bush, and the Moloch turned on them. The next thing Phoebe knew Prue and Piper were yanking her off the ground asking if she was okay.
"What the…?" Phoebe asked.
"Okay, this is not fair! Two against three!" Prue said gesturing toward the Moloch and the man that had suddenly appeared. Prue thought about her comment and said, "Okay so we out number them, but it's still not fair!"
"Guys," Piper said getting her sisters' attention. "I don't feel so well."
"Oh no, Piper, you can not get sick now! We can't deal with that and this all at the same time!" Phoebe practically shouted.
The man lunged at Prue and she flung him into a tree using her power. Phoebe fumbled around in her pocket for the 'just in case' spell. When she pulled it out he was just getting back to his feet. She yelled at her sisters and they ran to her side.
"We have to do this now." Phoebe said. "Cross your fingers!"
They started to recite the spell when the Moloch jumped at them. Piper froze it in mid-air. They once again started the spell again while the man got closer.
"Demon or Warlock, whatever evil you may be,
Depart now, from we sisters three,
Be slung into time and space,
Think twice next before you show your face."
They looked up from the paper and the man was slowly becoming transparent as his molecules were sent into a thousand different directions.
"I couldn't think of a way to vanquish him so I wrote a spell to buy us some time. I don't know how long it will be before he comes back." Phoebe said. "And I know that spell was cheesy, but I was lacking in time."
"You don't hear me complaining." Piper said.
"Okay, remember, big hairy dog monster." Prue said pointing. "Time to vanquish that thing."
"Okay, Prue, you're supposed to have the spell to vanquish it." Phoebe said.
"Oh, right." Prue reached into her pocket and pulled out her piece of paper. "Here, lets get this done with." She said to Phoebe.
They began to recite the spell to vanquish the Moloch when it unfroze and tackled Phoebe. She struggled to fight it off of her, but it had feet that worked like hands and they were wrapped around her wrists. She kicked at it, and it acted as though it had not felt a thing. Prue picked up a really big branch and swung at the beast, it hit him hard in the back of the head. However, the Moloch didn't move a muscle. Phoebe used all her strength and finally wrenched one hand free, she punched the Moloch in the eye and he let go of her other hand rubbing at his own eye. She tried to push him off, but he bit down on her as she did so. He was heaved to the side giving Phoebe just enough time to get up. She wrapped her arm up in her jacket and was applying pressure to the wound. It was serious, and she was beginning to feel light headed due to the amount of blood she was losing.
Prue and Piper put their arms around Phoebe giving her something to lean on and they finally recited the spell. Prue had to use her power to hold the thing back. The Moloch melted into a red puddle of goop, and then the puddle evaporated into a black mist. Phoebe muttered something and then fell to the ground unconscious.
When she woke again she was in a hospital bed. She heard Prue telling the doctor that a wild, stray dog had attacked them and then run off. She looked to her side and Piper was sitting in a chair next to the bed with her own arm bandaged up.
"Oh, Pheebs, you're awake." Piper stated.
"Yeah," She tried to sit up, but she forgot about her arm and put too much pressure on it causing her to fall back down.
"Stop, just lay still. They're gonna stitch you up and bandage your arm, and then we can go home." Piper said.
"What happened?" Phoebe asked. "Did we get it?"
"Yeah, sweetie, we got it. It bit you first, but we got it." Piper said.
"I hope that thing wasn't anything like the Wendigo or else I'm in trouble." Phoebe joked.
"No, you would've seen changes by now. We've been here quite some time, Pheebs." Piper said. "You lost a lot of blood, the doctor said you'd be asleep longer than this even."
"How long have I been out?" Phoebe asked.
"About five hours." Prue said joining them. "Doc says there's no infection, so that's good."
"Five hours? Are you serious?" Phoebe asked. Prue walked over and put some pillows behind Phoebe's head and back so that she could sit up a bit.
"Yeah, you lost a lot of blood. They almost did a blood transfusion, but they decided it wasn't that serious. Beginning doctors…sheesh." Prue said with a smile. "When the Moloch bit you it hit some of the major veins in your arm and wrist. You might have some scarring, but the doc says from the looks of it you might get lucky and have nothing to show for it."
"Was the girl—?"
"Fine?" Piper finished. "Yeah and those bodies we saw were her parents, neither one was dead just seriously injured. We brought them back with us; they're in critical condition, though. The girl didn't see any of us use our powers though, she was too busy hiding, so our secret is safe, yet again. The doctors believe it was a very large dog that attacked us so they've warned dogcatchers to keep their eyes open."
"That's good. What happened to you?" Phoebe asked finally noticing Piper's bandaged arm.
"Oh, just a little burn. It'll heal properly. Nothing to worry about at all." Piper said.
"That's good." Phoebe said with a sigh. She leaned her head back and closed her eyes. Prue looked at Piper and smiled. Then Phoebe jerked her head up.
"What?" Piper asked startled.
"They're gone!" Phoebe said with a long sigh of relief. "I hadn't noticed till now."
"Who are gone, Pheebs?" Prue asked.
"Those stupid memories that were taunting me." Phoebe had a huge smile spreading across her face.
"Good, maybe now you can get some sleep and eat right again." Piper said.
"Of course." Phoebe said. Then under her breath she added, "mother."
"Hey, I didn't have my hearing damaged!" Piper snapped jokingly.
The doctors came in, stitched Phoebe's arm up, and then they bandaged it. They filled out some more paper work, and then the Halliwell's were allowed to leave and go home. On the way to the car Phoebe looked at Prue with a worried face and asked, "They didn't draw any of my blood did they?"
"As a matter of fact they did, but I sort of stole it." Prue said pulling a little vile out of her purse. "We don't want history to repeat itself, do we?"
"Who would want such a thing?" Piper asked sarcastically with a sly little grin.