Being For the Benefit of Evil Incarnate
Piper Halliwell was bored. She pulled a pack of Kools from her back pocket and lit one with a small motion of her hand. Barely perceptible motion would have actually been more accurate. That hand could be explosive if she wasn't careful. Piper smiled to herself. Caution was rarely necessary.
"Paige, orb your ass down here!" she called, knowing Paige wouldn't dare refuse to listen. She took a long drag on her cigarette as Paige swirled in in a sea of dark orbs carrying a crossbow.
"Piper, what the hell? You know Leo and I were out hunting Whitelighters. I almost had one too, before you called."
"Sorry," Piper said without a hint of remorse as she blew smoke rings at the manor's ceiling. "But I'm bored. Where's Phoebe?"
Paige closed her eyes. "At the condo," she said.
"Well then, what are we waiting for?" Piper asked, dropping her cigarette to the floor and grinding it with the toe of her boot. She grabbed Paige's hand and the two of them orbed out.
Seconds later, they arrived at the condo to see Phoebe's spiky head poking out of a bed sheet. There was another head next to her, which Piper took aim at with both hands and proceeded to blow up. Phoebe's bedfellow was gone in a small explosion, leaving only a heap of ashes.
Phoebe emerged from the covers. "I hadn't finished with that demon yet." she told Piper crossly as she got dressed. "Next time don't blow him up until after I climax."
"Come on." Piper told her. "I'm bored and there are innocents for the killing out there. That should quench me until Leo gets home."
"Wait." Paige said. "You want us to help you kill innocents?" She and Phoebe laughed derisively. "I thought big bad Piper Halliwell could do that in her sleep."
Piper stopped their laughter with a look from her blazing eyes. "Of course I don't need you two to help me kill ordinary innocents. I want you two to help me kill an entire airport full of innocents."
"Why?" Phoebe asked. "I mean, killing innocents is always fun, but why an airport?"
Piper grinned evilly. "Because we can." She grabbed her sisters' hands and closed her eyes. Suddenly they were standing outside of an airport next to a 747 jet.
Paige snatched her hand back from Piper. "I told you that if you wanted to orb all over the world without asking to go get your husband to do it. At least you can promise him sexual favors for it. Knife."
Piper was faster than her younger sister. She stopped the knife in midair almost before it was orbed at her. She plucked out of the air and sheathed it on her belt. "Ronald Reagan International Airport, Washington D.C." she said, gesturing around her. "Named after such a man, who would expect things to go right?" She grinned. "Ladies, do your worst."
All three sisters smiled evilly and moved away from the jet. Paige orbed the jet closer to the airport itself, and Piper sent an explosion at it. The plane went up in a plume of flames, along with part of the airport. Paige orbed into the baggage terminal and proceeded to orb suitcases on top of people. Phoebe, in the departure gate, capitalized on others' frustration and anger and spread it to more people to cause a riot.
Piper blew up her fourth plane and surveyed her work. Most of the airport was in flames, and the rest soon would be as well. She mentally summoned her sisters and Paige orbed them out as she arrived.
Back at the manor, Piper laughed and shook another cigarette out of the pack. She lit it with her usual motion and brought it to her lips to inhale. Paige flipped on the TV and began to watch the news story of their exploits at Reagan. Phoebe sprawled out on the couch. Piper blew out a cloud of smoke just as Leo orbed in. He sent the cloud away from his face and dematerialized his crossbow. "I see you've been busy." he said, gesturing to the television.
Phoebe laughed seductively. "After that one, I'm feeling horny." She arched her eyebrow. "Want to go Leo?"
Piper shot a death glare at her sister. "You try, you die.' she said holding up her hands, one of which held her lit cigarette.
Phoebe shrugged. "Your loss Leo. I guess I'll go find a demon instead." She started to saunter out but turned back. "You know Piper, that high and mightiness doesn't become you. We all have our vices. Yours is cigarettes, Paige's is watching her exploits on television and mine is sex. You're just jealous because mine's the most fun." She turned back and went out the door.
Leo looked at his wife. "You said you had a plan, the best plan yet. What is it?"
"Not now." Piper took another drag on her cigarette. "Did you get many?"
Leo smiled and nodded. "A whole group of them were meditating in Central Park. Stupid Whitelighters."
Piper kissed him. "A fine catch for one day."
He kissed her back. "If I can't have Phoebe, can I have you?"
"Always." She took his hand and led him upstairs.
The news was over, so Paige switched off the television. She was feeling restless. The day's killing had kept her mind occupied for a while, but now she needed more. Phoebe had been wrong about their individual vices. Hers and Piper's she'd gotten right, but Paige's wasn't quite as innocent as television. Her vice was killing. She was insatiable. The more she killed, the more she needed to kill. Everyone thought that Piper was the meanest of the three of them because she talked tough and her power was so impressive, but Paige, the youngest, the newest to evil was actually the meanest. Some days she couldn't even remember being an innocent human, and that was less than two years ago.
"Because you have no anchor to humanity, my dear." Paige turned around and brought her crossbow to the intruder's neck. "There's no need for dramatics, sweet. If I meant to kill you, you'd be dead already."
Paige brought down the bow but kept it at the ready as she inspected the intruder. He was wearing a blood-red robe with the hood pulled all the way up to conceal his face, but the voice was masculine.
"What do you mean no anchor to humanity?" she asked. "I'm half witch, which is human, and half Darklighter."
"Ah yes, but your sisters are half witch and half mortal. They are more deeply rooted in the human realm than you are. Phoebe's empathy also keeps her anchored to humanity. Emotions are a human weakness. As long as your sister possesses that power, she will never be truly evil."
"And Piper?" Paige breathed.
If she could have seen the being's face, she would have known that he was smiling. "Piper is in love with her husband. Love," he spat on the floor to show his opinion on the matter. "Love is a purely human quality. It's so pure in fact, that your powerful sister is in danger of becoming…" he said the word as if it would make him vomit, "…good. And her Darklighter husband too, if he's not careful."
"Good? Piper?" Paige couldn't believe it. Piper's favorite activities were smoking and blowing things up, both perfectly bad activities.
"I'm not saying that that will happen, but it could. Unless you stop it."
"How do I do that?"
"By becoming pure evil. By erasing your humanity and embracing the darkness and the evil ways of old." He lifted his hood, showing his mottled face. "By becoming me."
"You? Who are you?"
"I am Evil Incarnate. I am the corporeal form of evil itself."
"Why do you need me to become you if you already exist?"
He placed her hand on his chest. She felt the darkness inside him, but she also felt a faint throbbing. She knew that his corporeal form was beginning to deteriorate. "Why me?" she whispered.
"You are powerful. You thrive on killing. And" he said softly. "You are as close to evil as any partial human can get. Will you do this?"
Paige knew the answer before she said it. Would she agree to become the most powerful evil being she had ever known? Of course she would. She craved the power, the evil that would flood her body, the chance to finally not be at Piper's beck and call. "Yes."
"Your sisters will try to stop you. They'll be jealous of you. Appease them. Give them what they want most."
"What's that?"
"Think, Paige."
She knew the answer, but the shred of pesky humanity that she still possessed didn't want to admit it. Piper and Phoebe loved each other, and they'd loved their sister Prue before she was killed by the forces of good. Piper was only as mean and as tough as she was because of Prue's death. Paige worked well with her sisters, but she didn't love them and they didn't love her. Once she'd wanted their love, but she'd lost that desire over a year ago. "Can I bring her back?" she asked him.
Evil nodded. "You can, but there will be consequences." he told her. "Nothing comes free."
Paige didn't care. "What do I have to do?"
"We must go to the Grimoire. It contains the sacred rite that will transform you. It is in your attic?" She nodded. "Then let's away."
In the attic, she opened the heavy book. "I've read this book many times over and I've never seen any spell to transform me into Evil Incarnate."
"You didn't have the ability to see it before I chose you as my successor. After you transform, you will be the only one with the ability to see it until you choose a successor."
"When will that be?"
"In a millennium or so."
Paige grinned at the thought of all the havoc she could wreak in the next one thousand years, havoc that Piper could only dream of but never complete. Whatever Piper's latest plan was, this would trump it completely. She read the page aloud. "Both the current Evil Incarnate and the Evil Incarnate-to-be must say this spell together over a convergence of power. Where is there a convergence of power?"
Evil shot her a look and flamed out. Paige looked puzzled, but then comprehension dawned and she orbed out as well.
Evil was standing in the basement. "Only you can summon it. You are tied to this house. Do it."
Paige began to chant. "Natum ad a necral dona in tan la noc. A tumb a tie na kail moleat oat bonnuis." She repeated these phrases.
Upstairs, Piper felt a surge of power. She sat up in bed as the wave rolled over her again. "What is it?" Leo asked lazily.
"It's the Nexus." Piper said as she got dressed. "It's Paige." She picked up the phone and dialed Phoebe's number. "It's me. Paige is trying to access the Nexus. I need your help to stop her. I'll meet you in the basement." Next to her, Leo was getting dressed too. When she looked at him, he just stared back. She started to leave, but he grabbed her arm.
"This is the Nexus, Piper. This is the most concentrated source of power either of us has ever dealt with. I won't let you go fight this alone. We fight this together, or not at all."
Piper smiled, and she and Leo ran out of the room as he pulled his black shirt over his head.
Paige heard her sister's footsteps on the stairs, but she didn't let them distract her from her work. "Natum ad a necral dona in tan la noc. A tumb a tie na kail moleat oat bonnuis." she repeated. A black shadow appeared before her as flames materialized on her other side.
"I am light. I am one too strong to fight." Paige heard from next to her. She whirled around.
"Phoebe stop!" she cried.
Phoebe stopped her spell, but the black mass spun crazily in the air trying to figure out which magical being to occupy.
"Paige, what the hell are you doing?" Piper asked, stepping forward. "You know that the Nexus is too volatile to mess with." She noticed the caped man next to Paige for the first time. "And who's he?"
"That is Evil Incarnate." Leo said, stepping forward as well. "Hello, Evil. It's been a long time."
"Leo." The man's mottled face broke into what could be considered a thin smile. "You've certainly changed. I remember you as the Darklighter who shot every Whitelighter in the Bay area. I passed some on the way here, though. Marriage must be making you soft."
"I see that you, however, are just as evil as you ever were."
Evil held out his arms apologetically. "How could I be anything else?"
"Leo, explain." Piper said.
"Evil Incarnate is the corporeal form of evil. In other words, he's pure evil encased in a body."
"So he's more evil than the Source?" Phoebe asked.
"The Source is the most evil of all the demons. Evil Incarnate is not a demon. He's just pure evil. He can't be destroyed like a demon can, like the Source can."
"That's right, Leo. Evil can't be destroyed. It's part of everyone, and as long as the world exists, evil will exist too. Even pure good cannot destroy me, just as I cannot destroy pure good." Evil turned to Paige. "That's your only limitation, my dear. You'll be able to do whatever you want to whomever you want, except that you can't destroy Good Incarnate, also known as pure goodness. You also can't bring about the Apocalypse, but you wouldn't want to do that anyway. If the world ceased to exist, so would evil. That's all that will be able to destroy you; the end of the world."
"Wait, you want Paige to become Evil Incarnate? Why?"
"This body is dying, Piper. Evil needs a new body to inhabit. Paige is as close to evil as a partial human can get, so she seemed like a perfect choice."
Piper and Phoebe both sprang forward to their sister. "Paige, please don't do this." Piper said. "We need you. We need to be the Smited Ones, and we need to to complete the Power of Three."
"And you're our sister." Phoebe chimed in. "We're a family, and families stick together."
Paige laughed hollowly. "I'm your sister? Oh, don't feed me that bullshit. I may be your half-sister, but you don't really want me around, do you? I'm just the replacement for the sister you really want, Prue. But I can bring her back to you if you let me do this."
"You…you can bring Prue back if you become pure evil?" Piper whispered.
Paige smiled. "I'll be able to do anything. I want to do this, Piper. I've felt incomplete for so long. At first I thought it was because I was a Smited One and I just didn't know it, but I think this is really what I was waiting for. I need to have the power to do so much more evil than I've ever done. More evil than you've ever done or will do, Piper. I can be so much more than you'll ever be. I won't just be your kid sister to be bossed around anymore." Her voice got angrier. "I need to be more than just easy transportation and the third piece of an entity. I need to be more powerful than you." Her voice returned to its normal tone as she said. "Getting Prue back will make you less bossy anyway, since she's really the oldest. Decide. Which do you want more: getting your other sister back and losing this sister or losing her and keeping me?"
Piper and Phoebe exchanged a look. "Wait." They turned. Leo had spoken. "There will be side effects. The balance of power in the universe must be kept somehow. Not even pure evil can change that. Prue may not come back the way she was, or more evil beings may be vanquished to make way for her return. Are you willing to let that happen?"
Piper turned to her husband. Her eyes were unreadable. "Leo, we're the Smited Ones. What do we care about what happens to anyone else?" She turned to Paige and nodded. "Do it."
Paige smiled and turned to face the Shadow of the Nexus, which had patiently been waiting for a decision to be made. "Knife." The knife that Piper had taken from her earlier that day orbed into her hand, and Paige made an "X" on each palm with it, letting the blood flow onto the floor. She then placed her hands on either side of Evil's face, and then removed them, leaving bloody "Xs" on each of his cheeks. Then they both started to recite the ancient spell to transmutate Paige.
"Most ancient one, thy evil itself, that dastardly entity. Flow into every pore of this tainted body and cleanse it with your darkness. Claim it for your own and give it power beyond comprehension. Leave your weary well and take this strong new one and anoint it anew." Darkness flowed out of the old man and streamed into Paige. The Shadow joined the tide, flowing into Paige as well. Paige levitated into the air and spun around, darkness spinning around her.
Then it was over. Paige landed back on the ground. Her already black hair now had red tips, and her already black clothing seemed darker somehow. Her eyes though, were now pure black. She pursed her blood red lips and walked over to where the old man had been. She picked up his cape, dusted it off, and put it on. She then swept the ashes that were the remains of his body into the crack in the basemnet floor. She blew into the crack, and dark smoke tumbled into it. Then the crack sealed itself.
Paige/Evil turned to her sisters and spoke. Her voice was slightly deeper, and as she spoke, her sisters could see her oversized incisors. "I promised you your sister back. I will keep this promise. Then I will leave. There will be no going back. If you change your minds due to the consequences you face, I will not reverse the process." She waved her hands. "Ostendo sum mortalis." With a crash of thunder, Prue Halliwell rose from underneath the ground. She looked just as she had before her death. Her dark hair hung about her shoulders, and her black dress hugged her body. Her black gauze jacket was neatly buttoned and black kohl was clearly visible on her closed eyelids. "Recipero." Paige said. As Prue's eyes opened, Paige was gone in a plume of black smoke.
Piper and Phoebe rushed to their sister. Her eyes widened as they threw their arms around her. After a moment, Piper beckoned to Leo and he joined the embrace. All four were levitated into the air as a bright white light shone on them from the sky and surrounded them.
When they returned to the ground, they were changed. Piper's hair had freed itself from its ponytail and flowed down around her shoulders. Her spiked choker had been replaced with a thin silver chain, and her tight-fitting, all black ensemble had become jeans and a green long-sleeved shirt. Phoebe's hair was no longer black and spiky, but light brown and shoulder length. She now wore white pants and a pink top with matching sandals. Prue's hair was the same, but she was wearing a red shirt and navy blue pants. Leo's hair was lighter, and he was wearing a white t-shirt, jeans, and a flannel button-down shirt. The dark make-up that the sisters had been wearing was gone, and all the weapons that the four of them had been carrying were gone as well.
"What happened to us?" Piper asked as she inspected herself and her family.
"You're good now," a musical voice said. An Elder stepped forward to address the foursome. "Your love for your sisters and your husband turned you all good. Instead of being the Smited Ones, the most powerful evil witches ever to walk the earth, you're now the Charmed Ones, the most powerful good witches ever to walk the earth. Instead of being a Darklighter, Leo, you're now a Whitelighter."
"But…how?" Prue asked, speaking for the first time.
"Evil said it before." Leo explained. "The balance of power in the universe needed to be kept. Paige as Evil makes Evil Incarnate more powerful than before, right?" The Elder nodded as Leo continued. "So if such a great evil was going to be let loose, we had to be made good, right?"
The Elder nodded again and added. "You were made good because only you can temper your sister's evil. She cannot be destroyed, but she must not be allowed to roam the earth any longer. Evil Incarnate is supposed to stay in the Underworld until it needs to choose a successor. Your sister is breaking those rules. Evil convinced her that you were becoming good, and to her mind, weak. Part of the reason she became evil was to stop that. Instead, she made you good. Now the Charmed Ones must banish Evil to the Underworld where she belongs. Only you can do this." The Elder orbed out.
Piper snorted. "Even good, I'll never like them. Transform first, explain cryptically later; that's the Elders for you."
"At least we're together." Phoebe said, giving Prue a hug.
"Amen to that." Leo said, kissing his wife.
"Yeah, but you heard the Elder. Now we have to go fight our baby sister, who, oh yeah, happens to be pure evil."
"Another day, Piper." Prue said. "Today, I'm just happy to be alive again. You should be happy for that too."
"I am." Piper said.
"Good. Then let's go. I want to see what I've missed since I've been dead." Prue said, steering Phoebe towards the door.
"Coming, honey?" Leo asked as he followed.
"Yeah, one second." Piper reached into her back pocket for her cigarettes, but she came up empty handed. "Damn. I've only been good for two minutes and already I miss being bad." She sighed and made a mental note to pick up cigarettes while she was out. No, now that she and Leo were good he'd make her quit. Well there was gum for that, wasn't there? She walked out of the manor into the bright sunlight as Prue telekinetically closed the door behind her.