Title: Karma
Author: ScarlettMithruiel
Classification: A, R
Disclaimer: Charmed does not belong to me. Otherwise, the whole Phoebe/Cole B-Plot the whole of Season 4 wouldn't have happened. Oh, and I would definitely not have killed Prue either.
Summary: Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned.And damn it all if they expected her to just sit idly by. This was Piper Halliwell-Wyatt and she was going to unleash the biggest fury this world had ever seen. Character Death.
Author's Note: My first real Charmed fic in a long, long while. And excuse the Shakespearean vocab here and there. It's just so beautiful and poetic.
October weather in San Francisco was cool. It truly meant autumn had arrived. Piper had always enjoyed the autumn weather. It was brisk, and it drizzled often. She had embraced the weather, often taking walks in the rain. It had been a habit that had begun in her adolescence and spilled over into her adulthood. She had oft been warned of catching a cold or pneumonia, but she hadn't bothered to care. She had just shrugged into a jacket and walked around the block or something at a slow pace, taking in all the sights and smells. The smell of rain always brought a smile to her face.
It was October again and Piper wasn't smiling. She no longer loved the weather as she used to. She cursed it, mentally swore at it, as if it was the weather's fault. She was kneeling in the dirt, her skirt ruined by the mud. She didn't care. The fresh, soft earth was moist and pliable, and she found herself reaching into the ground and extracting a mound. She crumbled the dirt in her hand and watched it return to the ground. Tears spilt onto her cheeks, but they were indiscernable from the droplets of rain.
Why? She questioned. When the Elders had fought against their relationship, she had gone on strike. She had refused to fight demons for them, if they were going to interfere with her personal life. As time passed, he had escalated into an Elder, and there was no more time for them anymore. No more time for them, for her, for their children. Her rage had been indescribable. That still didn't change the fact that she loved him. No, she loved him still, more than ever. She had wept when she decided upon the decision to ask him for a divorce. He never signed the papers. And for that, she was glad.
But Fate had been cruel to her. Yes, she was not high on Fate's list. She had realized that long ago. But to wound her when she was weak was underhanded. She remembered the night clearly. It was a cool October night. She had been at home, as usual, playing with Wyatt and Chris, and enjoying her demon-free evening. They did not come by often. When she was up in Wyatt's room, she heard a loud clanging in the kitchen. So much for a demon free evening, she had thought. She went downstairs to investigate, her hands poised to attack, when she fell upon the most tragic sight she had ever been witness to. Tears spilled onto her cheeks and she ran to him and knelt.
Leo. Ridden with arrows she could only assume were fired from a darklighter's crossbow. He uttered a weak groan and opened his eyes. She smiled faintly. She wanted to pull them out, to heal him, to get him back to her and their sons as soon as possible. She knew it wouldn't happen. He was too weak, too near death to be able to be brought back. "Piper," he rasped out, his voice thick with emotion. "They did this so they could attack you. The Elders will assign you a new one. Just…be strong." He smiled. "Be strong like I know you to be." She smiled through her tears deceivingly. She leaned down and kissed him, tasting his blood, bitter and metallic.
She had always thought that her sons would never know their father. They would never know him because he would always be away, being an Elder. She never thought the Fates would take her thoughts and turn them against her. After he expelled his last breath, she had gone back up to see the boys, the taste of his blood still in her mouth. She gazed at them, spotting remnants of Leo in both of them, and she sobbed quietly as she rocked Chris to sleep again.
She let her fingernails skim the engraved name of the gravestone. What had she done to piss off karma? Nothing but try and rid the world of evil. And their gratefulness had been expressed by stealing her husband from them. She bit her lip in anger. Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned. And damn it all if they expected her to just sit idly by. This was Piper Halliwell-Wyatt and she was going to unleash the biggest fury this world had ever seen.