Disclaimer: I don't own Charmed. This story was inspired by World Gone to the Wolves, by asil

Chapter Three

Heliotrope: The Healing Stone

April 12th, 2022. Unchanged Future

Seventeen-year-old Annette Perry (not Halliwell anymore, tainted as the name was by all of Wyatt's sins,) had a blank look on her face as she waited silently for her signal.

"Today the Empire will strike a great blow against the terrorists who claim to be 'freedom fighters'!" The voice of Nathaniel Pratt echoed loudly through the execution square, once Times Square in New York. "For today, one of their leaders, Danielle Jackson will burn!"

The loud cheers made Anna mentally damn them all. Of course, what could she expect? They were all either genuine supporters of Wy- the Emperor, or too terrified for themselves and their families to risk not being supportive. She still hated it though. Danielle had been an Air Force officer for over thirty years, and pretty much founded the Resistance. She was a hero and the people she'd spent her life fighting for were cheering her death.

Pratt turned on his heel and stalked over to Danielle. The forty-nine-year-old woman was badly beaten. Too injured to even stand but she still managed to lift her chin and look the (official) Head of the Hunters in the eye defiantly.

"Any last words, General Jackson?" His voice was mocking as he emphasized the title she'd held as a member of both the Air Force and the Resistance.

Danielle looked seriously at him as she nodded. "Yes," she croaked, her voice hoarse from screaming whilst being tortured for information on the Resistance. Anna was certain she'd kept their secrets but they'd changed everything anyway. Danielle would've been furious if they hadn't.

"Thank God that my husband is dead," Danielle said, voice full of steel despite all she'd been through. "It would've been worse than any torture you could do, for him to have seen our country, our planet, reduced to this mockery of civilisation." Then she flicked her gaze up to where Anna was hidden in the treetops.

"Anna NOW!"

Anna stuck out her hands, determination filling her even as she saw the guards' eyes widen in realization and Isax, (the true head of the Hunters) slit Danielle's exposed throat.

"Fire, fire, burning bright," she began the first of several chants. "Set this place of evil alight!"

The fire spread quickly around the square. Thanks to her wards, activated by her second chant, everyone was trapped. Her rebels (both invisible and visible) began to swarm out of their hiding places.

"Unseen, unheard, not a whisper, not a word," Anna strode from her hiding place after casting her cloaking spell. It was more reliable than her newly manifested cloaking power

Every so often, she paused to slam her feet on the ground, opening chasms where the demons promptly fell. She held her right index and middle fingers to her lips in a 'V' shape, blowing gusts of ice and wind at her foes. Fire streamed from her palms, engulfing 'Peace Keepers' in white-hot flames.

Her soldiers grabbed and evacuated as many innocents as they could and Anna was just in time to send a warlock flying away from a child whimpering (but not crying, even toddlers knew better after three years of Wyatt's rule) beside his mother's body. A girl Anna recognized as a former classmate of her dead twin cousins grabbed the boy and hurried off toward the Resistance's heavily guarded portal.

Anna continued on toward her objective, her speed increasing until she was flat-out running.

"ISAX!" She reached out with her telekinesis to prevent the demonic torturer fleeing. He paused and turned to look at her with a malicious grin.

"My dear Annette," he cooed mockingly. Anna felt herself tense despite herself as she skidded to a halt in front of him. She held her hands up loosely in preparation for the coming fight.

"How I've missed our times together," he continued with an evil grin. "Your screams, they were always so lovely. And it was so enjoyable, coming up with different ways to break you."

"But I didn't," she cut him off, wary of falling into his verbal trap. "I never did give up the Resistance, did I? And I know no one ever figured out how I was able to escape. How did His Majesty take it when you told him that I was missing from the cells?"

She looked pointedly at his missing hand and the vicious burn scars on his face. Wyatt was brutal, Isax had been lucky he was only the messenger. The entire guard shift of that week had been publicly burned to unsuccessfully try and ease Wyatt's fury.

The demon scowled bitterly at her. "You will never beat him," he spat at her. "You couldn't before he became the Source, you certainly can't now."

Anna lifted her chin in an echo of Danielle's earlier defiance. "We'll see," she declared, raising her hands. "Right now, though. I'm going to kill you." Without pausing to let him gather himself his defenses, she hit him with everything she could.

She screamed out every vanquishing spell that came to her head, attacked him with the full force of her powers. She ignored all of the energy balls that he tossed at her and when he was finally too injured to summon another, she grabbed her knife and stalked to him.

He glared bitterly at her. "You," he rasped out weakly. "will never...defeat him...You will...faaiill."

He choked off as Anna plunged her dagger into his heart and the youngest Halliwell watched numbly as he burst into flames. 'That wasn't for me," she thought. 'It was for Prue, and Danielle, and everyone you've tortured and murdered you goddamn son of a bitch.'

A sense of danger interrupted her musings and she looked quickly up. "C'mon!" She yelled to the remaining Resistance forces. "He's coming! Run!" She waited until all the other survivors were through the portal and black orbs signalled the arrival of her brother to flee through herself. The portal closed as Wyatt formed in the square. He was just in time to see her brunette hair disappear through the triquetra.

An energy ball skimmed her head, singeing her hair as the portal sealed over, leaving a burnt impression of the Warren line's symbol on the side of the building.


Valhalla, January 27th, 2003

Okay, so Wyatt hadn't needed to be worried about his little sister's hand-to-hand abilities. Even as he watched, she backflipped over her fourth opponent, taking advantage of the opportunity to grab the Valkyrie, Kara's, neck. She pulled and there was a loud crack as the woman 'died'. Of course, as she was a Valkyrie, she woke up a minute later.

"Very well," Freya stood from her throne, her hips swaying as she did so. The warriors were all wearing calculating looks as they studied Anna. Anna herself had a poker face as the queen approached.

"I believe your claim of being a time traveller who was trained by my people," Freya decided. "Kara is my second-in-command, she has not been defeated in centuries. Never by an outsider. And there are many similarities in the fighting style you use to the one we use."

Anna bowed her head respectfully to the queen. "My enemy sent many assassins to kill me," she explained emotionlessly.

Wyatt shifted in discomfort at the thought of his OtherSelf trying, directly or otherwise, to kill their sister. He froze when everyone's gazes darted to him briefly. Anna's eyes shot daggers at him before returning her attention to the queen.

"At the beginning of the war, the Valkyries granted me shelter in Valhalla in exchange for bolstering your wards. I was treated like one of your sisters, and you named me as your successor as you died from the wounds he gave you."

There was a ripple of shocked gasps as Anna said this, Wyatt was one of them, he could admit. Freya, despite not gasping, also looked shocked.

"Impossible," she proclaimed. "Valkyries are immortal."

Pain flickered in Anna's eyes as her lips twisted bitterly. "I wish that were true," she said sincerely. "But in the year 2019, a poison is created specifically for Valkyries. There is no antidote. I wish I brought better news."

Freya's eyes were dark as she studied the witch. "Come," she ordered. "You must tell me all that you can, in privacy."

Relief flickered across Anna's face as she nodded.

"Your escort may come," Freya offered but Anna shook her head before Wyatt could even blink.

"Thank you but no," she replied firmly. "He can remain here." Wyatt frowned.

"Anna," he sent at her telepathically. "Come on, we're in this together."

She tensed her jaw but gave in. "On second thought, he'll come." Freya nodded and turned. The Halliwell siblings followed, Wyatt rushing in case Anna changed her mind again.

"This Source," Freya began when they were all seated in a private room. Kara leaned against the wall with narrowed eyes. "You plan to kill him?"

Wyatt stiffened and Anna pursed her lips. "If I must," she said evenly. "But currently, he is only a baby, not yet infected by evil. Killing him would be murder. But, if I cannot prevent his turning, then I won't risk it. I'll kill him."

Wyatt cast her a look from the corner of his eye, but nothing indicated that she was anything less than completely serious about her statement. He stiffened his jaw and went back to focusing on the conversation, not the disturbing thought of Anna killing him to save the world.

"What help can we give you?" Freya asked. Anna smiled mischievously.

"How long can you hold an Elder do you think?"


Warehouse, January 27th, 2003

"Hold still," Wyatt ordered in exasperation as Anna squirmed. "You aren't usually this movy."

She paused to stare at him, he quickly grabbed her shoulder, hands glowing.

"Movy?" She demanded incredulously. "Did you seriously just say movy? I don't think that's an actual word, unless by movie you mean a film, which makes no sense at all."

He didn't answer, distracted by the injuries he felt. "Anna, you're a mess," he frowned. "You've had some of these since way before Valhalla. Why didn't you come to me? I would have healed you."

Anna shrugged, wearing a bored expression. "I'm not used to having access to healers anymore," she explained offhandedly. "I didn't think of it."

Wyatt stiffened looking briefly away while the glow continued to work before a thought occurred to him and he decided now was as good a time as any to bring it up.

"Have you been using healing potions?" He blurted out. Anna stared at him in surprise and bemusement.

"Well yes, of course I have," she stated, a tone of 'This is so obvious Wyatt, why don't you get it?' In her voice. "The Elders and Whitelighters are all either dead or enslaved in my future. If we didn't use potions, we'd be dead from fucking cholera, never mind our injuries."

Dismay filled the older sibling as he finished healing her. "Anna, healing potions are dangerous," he insisted. "They're addictive, damage your sleeping and eating habits, and they don't do anything to replenish your blood loss. It-"

"You don't think I don't know that," Anna snapped. She stood and crossed her arms.

Wyatt wondered how they were ever going to get away keeping their identities secret for any amount of time, when Anna was pretty much a clone of Piper with a mixture of Prue and Paige's personalities.

"I had no choice!" Anna went on, Wyatt feeling the air tingling as her temper continued to rise. "Lord Wyatt, slaughtered and enslaved all the people with healing abilities! Doctors can only do so much without equipment and medicine. Especially when you're living in crappy safehouses with a couple thousand other people! I did my best!"

Wyatt flung his shield up just in time to protect them both from several filled potions vials. Anna jumped backward and clenched her eyes shut, forcing herself to calm down as Wyatt watched her with anxious eyes.

When he judged her settled enough, he began his defence. "It's not that I'm trying to criticise you or your actions, Annie," he told her firmly, looking her straight in the eyes. "You're my baby sister, I love you more than anything. I want you to be safe, and I want to help you. Please Anna, just let me help you."

Anna exhaled tiredly and nodded, re-crossing her arms. "Fine," she muttered. "I need to work on the plan, adjust it for the two of us, and the stuff I know about Gideon. I haven't had a chance to do so yet. There's a bunch of demons that I want to vanquish too."

Wyatt nodded, grinning tentatively. This felt a lot like a breakthrough and he was desperate for one of those.


AN: I'm kind of rushing the events up to Oh My Goddess. That's when the story really starts kicking off. Up until then, it's just them preparing and trying to get comfortable with each other.