(They take the Angel of Destiny up on his offer)
"Just so we're clear," Piper said, suspiciously, "this wipes the entire slate clean? No read-the-fine-print technicalities, no demons-"
"None," the Angel of Destiny promised, solemnly. "Just your normal, magic-free lives."
Piper exchanged a look with Phoebe, seeing her own determined longing in her younger sister's eyes. For the last four years, magic had been their entire lives. Demons, and fighting, and they'd lost so much…
"Do it," Piper said, her voice ringing with finality. She didn't look over at Paige, still curled up on the window seat with a forlorn look on her face. "No more magic. We're done."
The Angel nodded, raising his hands, and then the world exploded in white…
Days passed, even weeks, and life was wonderful. She was happily married, with a loving family and a baby on the way. As promised, demons and magic were completely out of their lives. Everything was utterly, perfectly normal.
Until Paige started getting sick.
Small things at first, a series of colds, a persistent cough, constant bouts of exhaustion. Then it got bigger, a broken wrist falling off the stairs, pneumonia that landed her in bed for over a week. And Leo couldn't heal any of it. Paige tried to insist that she was fine, but Piper could see the truth. Could see her youngest sister getting worse every day.
Things came to a head the day Paige collapsed and had to be taken to the hospital. She was in a coma, and hooked up to half a dozen machines, as doctors ran test after test to try and figure out what was wrong. But every test came up with nothing, and Piper was getting desperate. She finally broke her own vow to stay away from magic and begged the Elders to find a solution.
They discovered that when the Angel had stripped away their magic, he'd stripped away Paige's Whitelighter half. And it was killing her.
Piper stared at Leo in disbelief. "What do you mean it's killing her?" she repeated.
"Paige isn't like you or Phoebe," Leo explained, with a heavy sigh. "Witches are mortals that can use magic. Whitelighters are magic."
Piper shook her head. "No," she said, stubbornly. "You've been mortal, before, and you've been fine. When the Elders clipped your wings, when Sam gave up his powers-"
"That's different," Leo told her. "Whitelighters are created, our existence is controlled by the Elders. Paige was born a Whitelighter. She needs magic like you need blood."
"So, this is our fault," Piper said, flatly. "She didn't want to make the deal, but Phoebe and I did, anyway. We killed her."
"This isn't your fault," Leo insisted. "No one knew about this. Not the Angel, not even the Elders. There's never been another Whitelighter-witch before Paige. No one could have anticipated this."
Piper wrapped an arm protectively around her stomach. "What about our baby?" she asked, in a small voice. "She's part Whitelighter. Is she – did we hurt her?"
Leo placed a hand gently on her abdomen, a soft, golden glow emanating from his palm. "She's healthy," he finally said, and Piper felt tears pricking at her eyes, her shoulders slumping in relief. "I can't tell if she has magic, though," Leo warned. "It's too soon for that."
"So long as she's healthy," Piper replied. She turned her attention back to Paige at the sound of one of the machines beeping, a frown furrowing her forehead as she studied her sister's still visage.
"What do we do about Paige?" Piper asked. "The Angel said that the deal was a one-time thing. That we couldn't change our minds. Can the Elders just change that, give Paige back her magic?"
"Not the way she was before," Leo said, dashing her hopes. "But, they can get around it by making her a full Whitelighter."
"Paige would have to die," Piper pointed out.
"Temporarily," Leo stressed. "And, Piper, if we don't do anything, she's dead anyway."
Piper looked at Paige, watching her chest rise and fall with the rhythm of the ventilator. She'd been comatose for nearly a week, with no sign that she was going to improve.
"Do it," Piper whispered, softly, praying that this time, her decision was the right one.
Turning Paige into a Whitelighter may have saved her life, but it ended her life with her sisters.
Paige's recovery had been slow and measured, controlled by the Elders to keep anyone from becoming suspicious. And, within a month, the doctors said that she was ready to come home, and Piper was more than ready for life to get back to normal. But, of course, nothing could ever be that easy.
Paige trained, and she learned how to be a Whitelighter, and she was assigned charges. And one of her charges had the power of premonition, and he foresaw something that scared Paige. But, she wouldn't say what it was, she just orbed out one morning after hugging her family goodbye. Piper didn't even remember telling Paige that she loved her.
But then, she never thought that it would be the last time she ever saw her youngest sister alive.
The first inkling that something was wrong was when the Elders put a ban on orbing. Second were the storms that popped up out of nowhere, lightning cracking across a perfectly clear sky, lasting for a day and a half. Then there was the earthquake that lasted almost five minutes, and then everything settled down.
The Elders summoned Leo a few seconds later. He returned after nearly an hour, looking like he'd just had the weight of the world dropped onto his shoulders. Paige was dead, he told them, and Piper could feel her heart shatter.
Paige and several of her charges had gone up against a trio of beings called Titans. They'd won, but the fight had cost Paige her life. She'd died to save her charges, to save the world, and Piper had never even gotten the chance to say goodbye.
If they'd never given up their magic, they could have fought the Titans, together; the Charmed Ones, just like always. But Paige was alone, because Piper had been so insistent on having her normal life.
And this was the normal life she'd always wanted. Wasn't it?