Disclaimer: I don't own Charmed or its characters. All rights go to Marie
M. Constance and the WB. I'm just doing this because I'm a devoted fan.
Author's Note: The story starts the day of the "Little Monster" episodes.
She sat with her back facing the doorway, her eyes fixated on the window panes. She never remembered them being that bright in her childhood. They had always been grimy and covered with dust, no matter how much her grandmother cleaned them.
It was funny the things people remembered when they were in her state of mind. They remembered the little things-the smell of a flower, the way a wind chime blew in the wind, the couch on which someone laid.
For her it was those god dame windows.
As she sat there looking at them a sound began to filter up through her subconsciouness. At first it was faint, like a far off echo. But it grew in sound, and soon she recognized it as the laughter of a young woman. It was a hearty laugh, full of warmth and happiness. She hadn't heard that kind of laugh in a long time, not since that day nearly two years ago..
No, I refuse so remember that day, she thought, pushing herself off the couch. She began to walk around the room trying to clear her head of the voices. It wasn't often that this power surfaced, but when it did it could be almost fatal.
All the voices, all the pain..
It was the one gift she regretted inheriting from her family, for it was the one that caused her the most pain. Sure, receiving premonitions was a bitch due to the fact that her ears always rung when she got one, but that was nothing compared to the sound of thousands of voices in her head.
Gritting her teeth she made her way to the center of the room where an old book stand stood. Nothing was on it. What had once been there had been taken long ago to a place where He couldn't sense it, which hadn't been easy. It had nearly taken her half a year to find a place where he couldn't get to it, and even now she was sure he would find it one day..
Just then a powerful surge of voices and pictures hit her. She heard a woman call out for her sons in a desperate plea of help and then there was crying. Sobs that racked the body, full of pain and anger.
Crying out in agony she stumbled and as she did her hand brushed up the stand. Suddenly her body jerked violently and all the voices and images disappeared as she received a premonition.
~Premonition~ A man stood over her, an energy ball growing in his right hand. "Don't worry about your precious cousins. I'll take care of them after I deal with you," he said, flexing the hand that held the energy ball.
The girl rolled her head to the side and saw two women not lying far from her. The closest one to her lay on the remains of a mirror that had been standing up, her blonde-brown hair covered in blood from a head wound. The other woman lay just a few feet away from the first, almost completely covered by the table she had been thrown into. The only visible parts of her body were a hand and a mass of thick black hair.
"You can't hurt them," she whispered, and for the first time she tasted the blood in her mouth. "They've done nothing to you."
"No, not yet," the man said, glancing quickly at the two unconscious women. "But you and I both know that as they grow they'll get more powerful. However you're the most powerful of your family, so you'll be the first to die."
It was then she spit the blood that she had been building in her mouth into the man's face. "Wanna bet?"
The man, clearly angered by that simple act of defiance, raised his hand to throw the energy ball at her but as he did she closed her eyes and disappeared into a swirl of orbs. She faintly heard his cry of defeat, but even though victory coursed through her she couldn't help but wonder if she had just signed her cousins' death certificate by leaving them there with him. ~End of Premonition~
The girl sat down heavily on the floor, her breathing coming in short gasps. She had never had a memory-premonition that vivid before. Granted, all the memory-premonitions before this one had been about other people in other places in time. This one had been about her and the day she let her family down. The day her entire world shattered into a thousand pieces.
"I should have known you'd be here."
The girl looked up, and drew in a sharp breath. There in the doorway stood a fairly tall, beautiful woman. Her features were delicate and finely chiseled like an Elves'. Her hair was a dark red and hung down to her waist in soft curls. She had a strand from each side of her temples pulled back and in a small white clip. Her eyes were a vivid green and when the light hit them just right they seemed to dance a thousand different colors. She was the personification of beauty, which was to be expected since she was, after all, the daughter of Aphrodite.
"Yeah, it's also the last place I thought I'd ever come back to."
"Don't be too sure of that," the red head said walking toward the young girl. "A lost soul always goes back to the one place it felt safe."
"Yeah, well, this place stopped being my "safe house" the day grandma died, the girl said, pulling herself up off the floor. "You of all people should know that, Susan. You were there the day my entire family died."
"Yes I was," Susan whispered, sitting down on the old rugged couch. It had once been a place where she had had private talks with her best-friend, one of the few people who truly understood her.Now it was a silent reminder of times long lost, much like the window panes.
"But that still doesn't mean you have to stay away from here. It's where you were born. It's also the place were you manifested your powers and became the witch you are today."
"The witch I am today," the girl mumbled. "Don't you mean the most powerful witch of all time, who can't even save her own family? Yeah, I've become great witch."
"When will you ever learn," Susan whispered, looking into the girl's eyes. "It wasn't your fault that they all died. It was Evil's fault. He's the one who should be carrying around your family's death guilt, not you. You did everything you could that day to stop them from dying."
"I did everything?" the girl cried, her voice rising as she began to lose her temper. "How could I have done everything when I orbed out when my cousins' needed me the most, huh? Where was I when my great-aunts needed me to protect them? Didn't my mom call for help right before she was brutally murdered? And for God sakes, I should have been there when that demon attacked grandma. She was counting on me to be there but I let her down. Why? Because I was too wrapped up in trying to safe the people who could protect themselves. My family didn't die because of a demon, Susan. They died because of me!"
At first she was too shocked to react. Never had she seen the girl express so much emotion since that day. She had bolted it up and threw away the key, though it almost cost San Francisco its entire future.
She hadn't come to argue with her though; she had come to offer an ultimatum. She knew the girl was suffering. She had been hurt the most by the tragic events of the past two years. It was her family that was murdered and not only did she lose them, but she also lost the love of her life to the thing that killed them. Magic had taken everything from her, and now it was time for magic to repay her back ten fold.
"I didn't come to rehash old, painful memories. I too lost friends that day, though I'll admit before anybody you went through my hell that day then I did. I came here instead to give you a chance to correct what went wrong that day." "What do you mean 'to correct what went wrong that day?'"
Susan looked down at her hands and for a split second she almost backed out of her deal with Atticus. She hadn't even been to keen on doing it in the first place, but as she sat there now and saw the pain in the girl's eyes and what it was doing to her inside, she knew there was no turning back.
"What I mean is, if you had the chance to go back in time and change everything, would you?"
At first the girl didn't understand but then it hit her like a ton of bricks. "You mean go back in time?"
Susan nodded her head. "But that's impossible," the girl said, taking a seat next to Susan. "I mean, only Tempus can reset time and he's been gone forever."
"Not Tempus, dear," Susan said. "If that were to happen somebody else would die instead of those that did-most likely you. No, what I'm saying is that you will go back in time and stop all this from happening. Much like Chris did when the Titans took over his old world."
"But how?" the girl asked. "Nobody has that kind of power except."
"An Elder?"
The girl looked into Susan's eyes. "Atticus? He's doing all this? Why?"
Susan shrugged her shoulders. "Who knows? Maybe the old guy finally got a heart the day he came down and saw you crying your eyes out in my arms."
She sat there for a moment, biting her lower lip. Susan almost smiled for that was what her grandmother and father use to do when they were pondering over a great problem. At last she looked at Susan and asked, "What do I have to do?"
Smiling, Susan pulled a tiny vial of red liquid out of her pocket and handed it to the girl. You know the spell Chris used to go back in time. However this potion will enhance the spell and send you to the root of the problem. Understand?"
Shaking her head the girl took the potion. "Who do I tell them I am? I can't very well pop in and tell them my real identity."
"You can use your entire name except your last. Pick one that sounds almost normal, but is actually tied close to the family."
"I know exactly what to use," the girl whispered. She looked at the potion for a brief moment, almost as if contemplating her actions, and then got up and went to the center of the room. She stood there and looked around, almost as if she was trying to soak up the details of the room one final time.
With a last glance at Susan she popped the vial cork, downed the potion, and after the initial shock of the taste, she began to slowly say the spell that would take her back to her family.
Hear these words, hear the rhyme Head the hope within my mind Send me back to where I'll find What I wish in place and time
For a brief second nothing happened and then a swirl of gold and silver light began to form at her feet. Within a few heart beats she was completely gone. Susan sat there, looking at the place the girl had once stood. She was gone to correct what had happened and to change all the pain.
"You're our last chance, Erin. You're our only chance."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~` I hope you liked it. Just remember that this is my first fanfic. PLEASE review though.
Author's Note: The story starts the day of the "Little Monster" episodes.
She sat with her back facing the doorway, her eyes fixated on the window panes. She never remembered them being that bright in her childhood. They had always been grimy and covered with dust, no matter how much her grandmother cleaned them.
It was funny the things people remembered when they were in her state of mind. They remembered the little things-the smell of a flower, the way a wind chime blew in the wind, the couch on which someone laid.
For her it was those god dame windows.
As she sat there looking at them a sound began to filter up through her subconsciouness. At first it was faint, like a far off echo. But it grew in sound, and soon she recognized it as the laughter of a young woman. It was a hearty laugh, full of warmth and happiness. She hadn't heard that kind of laugh in a long time, not since that day nearly two years ago..
No, I refuse so remember that day, she thought, pushing herself off the couch. She began to walk around the room trying to clear her head of the voices. It wasn't often that this power surfaced, but when it did it could be almost fatal.
All the voices, all the pain..
It was the one gift she regretted inheriting from her family, for it was the one that caused her the most pain. Sure, receiving premonitions was a bitch due to the fact that her ears always rung when she got one, but that was nothing compared to the sound of thousands of voices in her head.
Gritting her teeth she made her way to the center of the room where an old book stand stood. Nothing was on it. What had once been there had been taken long ago to a place where He couldn't sense it, which hadn't been easy. It had nearly taken her half a year to find a place where he couldn't get to it, and even now she was sure he would find it one day..
Just then a powerful surge of voices and pictures hit her. She heard a woman call out for her sons in a desperate plea of help and then there was crying. Sobs that racked the body, full of pain and anger.
Crying out in agony she stumbled and as she did her hand brushed up the stand. Suddenly her body jerked violently and all the voices and images disappeared as she received a premonition.
~Premonition~ A man stood over her, an energy ball growing in his right hand. "Don't worry about your precious cousins. I'll take care of them after I deal with you," he said, flexing the hand that held the energy ball.
The girl rolled her head to the side and saw two women not lying far from her. The closest one to her lay on the remains of a mirror that had been standing up, her blonde-brown hair covered in blood from a head wound. The other woman lay just a few feet away from the first, almost completely covered by the table she had been thrown into. The only visible parts of her body were a hand and a mass of thick black hair.
"You can't hurt them," she whispered, and for the first time she tasted the blood in her mouth. "They've done nothing to you."
"No, not yet," the man said, glancing quickly at the two unconscious women. "But you and I both know that as they grow they'll get more powerful. However you're the most powerful of your family, so you'll be the first to die."
It was then she spit the blood that she had been building in her mouth into the man's face. "Wanna bet?"
The man, clearly angered by that simple act of defiance, raised his hand to throw the energy ball at her but as he did she closed her eyes and disappeared into a swirl of orbs. She faintly heard his cry of defeat, but even though victory coursed through her she couldn't help but wonder if she had just signed her cousins' death certificate by leaving them there with him. ~End of Premonition~
The girl sat down heavily on the floor, her breathing coming in short gasps. She had never had a memory-premonition that vivid before. Granted, all the memory-premonitions before this one had been about other people in other places in time. This one had been about her and the day she let her family down. The day her entire world shattered into a thousand pieces.
"I should have known you'd be here."
The girl looked up, and drew in a sharp breath. There in the doorway stood a fairly tall, beautiful woman. Her features were delicate and finely chiseled like an Elves'. Her hair was a dark red and hung down to her waist in soft curls. She had a strand from each side of her temples pulled back and in a small white clip. Her eyes were a vivid green and when the light hit them just right they seemed to dance a thousand different colors. She was the personification of beauty, which was to be expected since she was, after all, the daughter of Aphrodite.
"Yeah, it's also the last place I thought I'd ever come back to."
"Don't be too sure of that," the red head said walking toward the young girl. "A lost soul always goes back to the one place it felt safe."
"Yeah, well, this place stopped being my "safe house" the day grandma died, the girl said, pulling herself up off the floor. "You of all people should know that, Susan. You were there the day my entire family died."
"Yes I was," Susan whispered, sitting down on the old rugged couch. It had once been a place where she had had private talks with her best-friend, one of the few people who truly understood her.Now it was a silent reminder of times long lost, much like the window panes.
"But that still doesn't mean you have to stay away from here. It's where you were born. It's also the place were you manifested your powers and became the witch you are today."
"The witch I am today," the girl mumbled. "Don't you mean the most powerful witch of all time, who can't even save her own family? Yeah, I've become great witch."
"When will you ever learn," Susan whispered, looking into the girl's eyes. "It wasn't your fault that they all died. It was Evil's fault. He's the one who should be carrying around your family's death guilt, not you. You did everything you could that day to stop them from dying."
"I did everything?" the girl cried, her voice rising as she began to lose her temper. "How could I have done everything when I orbed out when my cousins' needed me the most, huh? Where was I when my great-aunts needed me to protect them? Didn't my mom call for help right before she was brutally murdered? And for God sakes, I should have been there when that demon attacked grandma. She was counting on me to be there but I let her down. Why? Because I was too wrapped up in trying to safe the people who could protect themselves. My family didn't die because of a demon, Susan. They died because of me!"
At first she was too shocked to react. Never had she seen the girl express so much emotion since that day. She had bolted it up and threw away the key, though it almost cost San Francisco its entire future.
She hadn't come to argue with her though; she had come to offer an ultimatum. She knew the girl was suffering. She had been hurt the most by the tragic events of the past two years. It was her family that was murdered and not only did she lose them, but she also lost the love of her life to the thing that killed them. Magic had taken everything from her, and now it was time for magic to repay her back ten fold.
"I didn't come to rehash old, painful memories. I too lost friends that day, though I'll admit before anybody you went through my hell that day then I did. I came here instead to give you a chance to correct what went wrong that day." "What do you mean 'to correct what went wrong that day?'"
Susan looked down at her hands and for a split second she almost backed out of her deal with Atticus. She hadn't even been to keen on doing it in the first place, but as she sat there now and saw the pain in the girl's eyes and what it was doing to her inside, she knew there was no turning back.
"What I mean is, if you had the chance to go back in time and change everything, would you?"
At first the girl didn't understand but then it hit her like a ton of bricks. "You mean go back in time?"
Susan nodded her head. "But that's impossible," the girl said, taking a seat next to Susan. "I mean, only Tempus can reset time and he's been gone forever."
"Not Tempus, dear," Susan said. "If that were to happen somebody else would die instead of those that did-most likely you. No, what I'm saying is that you will go back in time and stop all this from happening. Much like Chris did when the Titans took over his old world."
"But how?" the girl asked. "Nobody has that kind of power except."
"An Elder?"
The girl looked into Susan's eyes. "Atticus? He's doing all this? Why?"
Susan shrugged her shoulders. "Who knows? Maybe the old guy finally got a heart the day he came down and saw you crying your eyes out in my arms."
She sat there for a moment, biting her lower lip. Susan almost smiled for that was what her grandmother and father use to do when they were pondering over a great problem. At last she looked at Susan and asked, "What do I have to do?"
Smiling, Susan pulled a tiny vial of red liquid out of her pocket and handed it to the girl. You know the spell Chris used to go back in time. However this potion will enhance the spell and send you to the root of the problem. Understand?"
Shaking her head the girl took the potion. "Who do I tell them I am? I can't very well pop in and tell them my real identity."
"You can use your entire name except your last. Pick one that sounds almost normal, but is actually tied close to the family."
"I know exactly what to use," the girl whispered. She looked at the potion for a brief moment, almost as if contemplating her actions, and then got up and went to the center of the room. She stood there and looked around, almost as if she was trying to soak up the details of the room one final time.
With a last glance at Susan she popped the vial cork, downed the potion, and after the initial shock of the taste, she began to slowly say the spell that would take her back to her family.
Hear these words, hear the rhyme Head the hope within my mind Send me back to where I'll find What I wish in place and time
For a brief second nothing happened and then a swirl of gold and silver light began to form at her feet. Within a few heart beats she was completely gone. Susan sat there, looking at the place the girl had once stood. She was gone to correct what had happened and to change all the pain.
"You're our last chance, Erin. You're our only chance."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~` I hope you liked it. Just remember that this is my first fanfic. PLEASE review though.