Leo looks around, confused. They're in a room he's never seen before, and Diana explains:
"This is the house of Dan and Piper: after they got married, he insisted that she moved in with him."
Leo barely acknowledges her, too shocked by the sight of Piper curled under the covers, staring blankly at the wall. Her usually beautiful hair is messy and dull, and she has big black circles under her eyes.
"Honey," he whispers, kneeling beside her, "what happened to you?"
He turns to Diana with tears in her eyes.
"Who did that to her?"
"The pressure was too much for her." says Diana. "She exploded virtually everything she pointed at during the last three weeks; the time came when she wouldn't dare leaving the house any more. Soon, she wouldn't leave her bedroom, either. And since yesterday, she's... well, you can see by yourself: the poor thing is terrified that she may cause any more damage."
Dan's voice startles Leo, and he spins around to see the other man standing at the doorway:
"Piper?" he calls, hesitantly.
"Stay away from me." says Piper, hoarsely. "I'm dangerous."
"I know you wouldn't hurt me, Piper." says Dan, but he stays where he is, clearly afraid to get closer to Piper.
"Go away, Dan." says Piper, on the verge of tears. "Please."
Dan gives her one last anguished look and leaves, dejected. As he's leaving, Leo yells at him, furious:
"What are you doing, you coward? Can't you see she needs you? Come back here!"
He turns back to Diana and shouts, enraged:
"Where's Owen? Where's her Whitelighter when she needs him?"
"He's done everything he can, Leo." says Diana. "And so has Dan. They have done their best, trying to help her, with no success. Dan loves her, but he can't understand her. Owen understands her, but he doesn't love her."
Suddenly Piper starts to cry silently, and Leo closes his eyes, fighting his own tears.
They hear angry voices coming from down the corridor, and Piper covers her ears with her hands and shuts her eyes.
"Don't you dare saying I can't see my sister, Dan!" Prue shouts.
"Leave her alone, Prue!" says Dan, in the same tone. "This madness of Power of Three, the Charmed Ones, protecting the innocents, that's what's left her the way she is. If you want to be a witch, fine, but leave my wife out of this!"
"Get out of my way!" -- they hear a thud, followed by Dan's gasp, as he is thrown against the wall.
"Prue used her power against an innocent?" says Leo, shocked.
"I told you she's out of control..." says Diana, waving her head.
When Prue walks through the door, Piper promptly says:
"Back off, Prue! It's not safe!"
Ignoring her sister's warning, Prue walks towards her and kneels beside the bed, saying gently:
"Hi, sweetie. How are you feeling today?"
"Scared." says Piper, in a weak voice.
"There's no need to be scared, Piper." says Prue, stroking her sister's cheek. "Everything's gonna be alright, but you have to get off this bed and fight. We can't help you if you don't fight."
"I can't, Prue..." says Piper, starting to cry again. "I'm sorry..."
"Sweetie, you have to." says Prue, with tears in her voice. "We can't fight the Brotherhood without the Power of Three."
"The Brotherhood of the Thorn?" says Leo, bewildered. "But they defeated the Brotherhood a long time ago."
"No, they didn't." says Diana. "They didn't find out about their plan until it was too late to stop them. It had something to do with a merger between two communication companies and..."
"I know," Leo interrupts her, impatiently, "Cole told us all about it."
"Not in this realm." says Diana.
"What? He remained evil?" says Leo, deeply surprised.
"In fact, he never got the chance to make this choice," says Diana, "when Owen e Phoebe were in Cole's apartment, and she begged Owen to heal him, he explained to her that he could only heal someone who had been hurt by evil: the rules are clear."
"What... what happened then?"
"Cole didn't survive the wounds," says Diana, "he was already dead when Prue, Piper and the Zolthar arrived."
"Wow..." Leo murmurs, surprised by the utter sadness he feels. "What about Phoebe? How did she deal with it?"
Instead of answering, Diana offers her hand again, and Leo holds it.
