Hi again! This is the monster of all chapters. Not only is it long but I've rewritten it like three different times! And then I lost one of the pages but I guess it wasn't that lost because I just found it. Seriously while I was typing this I spotted it among the pile of papers in my room. Crazy. But this is the best version I came up with so I hope you enjoy it! I don't own Charmed but I wish I did. Don't you?
"Phoebe I have to warn you. This isn't going to be easy. Love is a very complicated feeling. You could end up anywhere."
"Coop, I understand that but this is the only way we're ever going to get Piper back."
Phoebe grabbed the ring out of his hand. Coop opened his mouth to protest but decided that it was useless. Once Phoebe got going it was impossible to stop her. 'That's why I love you so much.' She had dedication. She followed things through to the end no matter what it took.
"Okay Paige, you ready?" The two sisters took each other by the hands.
"Wait! I'm coming too!" Chris had gotten to his feet and broken into the circle.
"No Chris you have to stay here. It's too dangerous."
"You've got to be joking! If anyone should be staying it should be you two. You're the most vulnerable. Besides I know a lot more about time travel. I'm like the master of all time travel!"
"The master of all time travel? Well aren't you humble?" Paige raised her eyebrows as see mocked her rambunctious nephew.
"Paige." Phoebe understood how Chris was feeling, "Chris sweetie I know that you want to help. And you're right you are the most seasoned time traveler but this is different. This is something that we have to do alone."
"But.." Chris tried to argue but stopped as Leo placed a firm hand on his shoulder. The touch of his father calmed him and he said no more.
"We're going to get her back." This time Paige spoke with sincerity, "We're going to get your mom back. I promise." Chris nodded as he stepped back in line with the others.
"I'll drive." Phoebe said with a smirk as he closed her eyes.
"Fine but I call shotgun."
"Paige ssh! I'm trying to concentrate." Phoebe focused all of her being on Piper. She thought about her sister and everything that she had meant to her. 'I love you so much.' "Piper." The second she spoke her sister's name they hearted out of the room.
In a flash they reappeared. They were back in the manor but there was something wrong. It looked different. It was still vaguely familiar but something about the house was definitely different. Phoebe and Paige jumped at the sound of two giggling girls running into the room. They stopped at the sight of the strangers. Phoebe looked at them. She recognized them. The older looking one was Prue and the younger one was Piper. 'Oh Crap.'
Prue cried out, "Grams! One of the strange ladies is back and she brought another lady with her and she's really pretty!"
"Pretty, huh?" Paige couldn't help but smile even though they had obviously landed in the wrong year.
"Uh, Paige I think I overshot by a few years."
"A few years Phoebe? Try thirty years! See I was right. We should have pulled over and asked for directions."
"That is so not funny." The two continued to stare with disbelief at the little girls who just stared back.
"Prue dear what are you talking ..." Penny Halliwell stopped as she spotted Phoebe and Paige standing frozen in the middle of the family room. "Phoebe what are you doing here?"
"Wait you recognize me?"
"Well of course I do. You were here five minutes ago. We just sent you and your sisters back."
"Excuse me?"
"You, Prue, and Piper. You came to warn your mother about Nicholas and we've just returned you to the future."
Phoebe's eyes widened with shock as she realized how close they had come to disaster. If they had run into their past selves in this past it would've been catastrophic. She shuddered as she thought of the possible consequences that would have resulted from such an unfortunate encounter.
"Phoebe, I'll ask again. What are you doing back here and who is she?"
"Well I am Phoebe but I'm not the Phoebe that you sent back. I'm the Phoebe from seven years further in the future." Phoebe watched as her grandmother failed to understand what she had just said. 'How could she understand it. I don't even stand it.' It dawned on her that this was going to take a lot longer than she had hoped, "Grams, maybe we should sit down."
It took Phoebe roughly an hour to explain everything. From how they had gotten there to why they had been time traveling in the first place. The entire time she was very cautious about how much future information she revealed. Even a minor slip-up could result in an irreparable future. "I just don't get why the ring brought us back this far in the first place."
"Maybe you're just a lousy driver."
"I don't need any lip from you right now missy. Besides it wasn't my fault, it was the ring. I did exactly what Coop told me to. He was just right when he told us that it was complicated. I mean this was my first try. It was pretty good for a first try." Paige's snort got her a hard bunch to the shoulder. "Like you could do any better."
"Actually I think I could."
"Oh please! If its anything like the first time you orbed we would probably land five minutes from now."
"Girls." The sisters silenced their quarrel. It didn't matter how old you were, no one was immune the scorn of Penny Halliwell. "Phoebe, I think Paige is right." This time it was Phoebe who snorted in amusement. "Just listen to me for a minute. You have known Piper your entire life and you have loved her your entire life. You said that the ring's power revolves around love. You have to pinpoint a single moment in a life time full of love. That's why you missed. You have so many memories of Piper that you can't sort through them properly. Now Paige here has known Piper for a much smaller amount of time and therefore it should be easier for her to pick out the moment you girls are trying to get to because she has a lot less to choose from."
Phoebe bit her lip as she pondered what her Grandmother had just explained. What her Grandmother had just tried to explain. "You see Grams, that would make sense if there was any logic behind it but there isn't so it just doesn't make sense."
"Welcome to the wonderful world of magic my dear! Just trust me, and trust yourselves. Trust your hearts and they will get you to Piper. Now stop sitting around and go save my granddaughter."
The two sisters got to their feet. "This time I'll drive." Paige gave Phoebe a wink as she began to focus her emotions. Phoebe aimed a kick at her but they hearted out before her foot could make contact.
They reappeared once again in the living room and once again something was wrong. The walls were a different color and they didn't recognize any of the furniture. The most obvious change was the wall between the living room and the conservatory no longer existed. The two rooms had been merged into one giant one.
"Paige come quick! They're here! Or should I say we're here?" Phoebe and Paige turned to locate the owner of the voice and spotted an elderly woman behind them. She approached Phoebe and a giant grin spread across on her face, "I was so hot back then."
"Oh stop flattering yourself." The woman was joined by another who entered carrying a tray with four glasses and a pitcher of lemonade on it.
"Uh, who are you?" Paige asked in a little voice.
"Well I'm you of course and this is my older sister Phoebe and we welcome you to the year 2056! "
"Uh oh." Paige stood dumbfounded with her mouth hanging open as it occurred to her that she too had landed them in the wrong year.
The younger Phoebe started to laugh, "Wow Paige you were so right. You're way better at this than me. I missed by twenty years and you missed by what? About half a century?"
"Hey give me a break." It was the older Paige that stood up for herself. She observed her past self. Then she looked at her past sister. Then she turned to her current one and said, "Wow. I don't remember being this pathetic when we came to the future. Do you?"
"Oh lay off a bit Paige. This is a lot to swallow. If I remember correctly at this time they've already been back too far and now they're too far forward." She looked at their younger versions for confirmation but she got nothing of the sort. "Okie dokie then. I think we should all sit down and have a nice little chat."
So the four women all took a place around a small circular table that had been set up in the middle of the room. In the center was an enormous floral centerpiece surrounded by various munchies.
"Wow. It's like you were expecting us."
"Well we were. After all we're you. Fifty years ago we were sitting where you're sitting right now."
Phoebe's head hurt. 'I hate time travel. It's just too damn confusing.' The Paige sitting next to her took a sip of lemonade and then proceeded to question their future counterparts, "So if you're us then you've already experienced what we're going through right now. You know how everything turns out. So you can help us. You can tell us what we have to do to fix everything. You can tell us how to save Piper."
"Sorry me but we can't tell you anything. You have to figure it out on your own just like we did, without any future help. You see by telling you we would change our past which would result in this future not existing."
Paige slumped in defeat but Phoebe wasn't going to give up that easily, "Well, can you at least tell us what we're doing wrong? Why can't we get to the right time?"
The future sisters looked at each other and took part in a wordless conversation. After a few seconds they both smiled, "I don't think any harm could come from pointing them in the right direction."
"Allow me." chimed the older Phoebe. She knew she had to choose her words carefully otherwise it would go right over their heads. So she thought about it for a minute and then leaned forward to start the explanation, "All those years we spent fighting demons revolved around the Power of Three. The power that we all shared, the power that connected us to each other. All you have to do is use...the Power of Two."
"The Power of Two?" For first time Phoebe questioned her future sanity. 'What in the world are you talking about you crazy old quack?' Apparently her face was a window to her mind because her future self quickly continued, "Oh you know what I mean. You two have to work together. Use the love you share as sisters. Only then will you be able to save Piper."
"Wow Phoebe. It looks like you still give some pretty good advice in the future."
Phoebe smiled at her, "Shall we?" They stood up, gave their future selves one last and then they were gone.
Once again they whisked through time sorting through the memories but this time it was different. They had more control. When they finally came to a stop neither of them opened their eyes. They were afraid of what awaited them on the other side of their eyelids.
"Phoebe?" Phoebe's heart skipped a beat. She knew that voice. 'Its her. We did it.' She opened her eyes to see Piper staring back at her but it was a younger Piper. It wasn't the Piper that had died in the battle; it wasn't the one they had to save.
"Phoebe why aren't you at school? Who's that?" Before Phoebe could open her mouth to answer another voice interrupted her.
"Piper, I have to go pick up a few things for tonight did you need anything?" This time Phoebe's heart skipped two beats.
"Prue?" Phoebe couldn't restrain herself. She rushed forward and embraced her sister. She didn't want to let go, she wanted to hold on to her forever but Prue didn't feel the same way.
"Phoebe what are you doing? What's going on?" She broke free and looked at her younger sister. Or rather her older sister. It was Phoebe, there was no doubt about that but she was a lot older. There was something different about her. She had a maturity about her that convinced Prue that this Phoebe had come from some other time far in the future, "What's going on? And who is she?"
"This is Paige. She's my...our sister."
"What are you talking about?"
"What's the date?"
"Its February 22nd."
"What year is it?"
"2001." Phoebe's throat tightened. That meant that Prue only had a few months left, "Well that means that we've come back five years. We're from the year 2006." Prue eyed her suspiciously and Piper just looked downright shocked. Phoebe tried to ignore their unsettling stares and continued, "Listen in our time there was a huge battle and Piper..." Phoebe looked at the younger version of her sister who had suddenly become very alert, "In the battle Piper..."
"Phoebe be careful how much you tell them." This was the first time Paige had worked up enough courage to speak. She felt so out of place at this little family reunion. She felt as though her presence was uninvited. She watched as the Prue she had never met and the Piper she had never known reacted as Phoebe continued.
"I know but this is something they need to hear. In the battle Piper died." Prue moved close to Piper and wrapped her arms around her little sister, "But don't worry we're going to fix this. That's why we're here. That's why we've come back. Well actually we didn't mean to come back this far but it works."
Paige didn't get what Phoebe was hinting at, "Phoebe, what are you talking about? We're still five years off the mark? How can that be a good thing?"
"Well think of it this way. When we get back to the point where the battle began we're going to have to stop the fight and the only way to do that is to remove the power of the Hollow out of the equation. We can't do that without the Power of Three and we won't have enough time to convince one of us to help not that we could ever convince our Hollow controlled selves to help. So instead we can use Piper to restore the Power of Three and stop the battle. So technically the only one who can save Piper is Piper." Phoebe looked at Paige who looked very confused. Then she looked at Prue and Piper who looked even more confused.
Prue let go of Piper and studied Phoebe's face for a moment. She crossed her arms and stared at the floor trying to process everything. Eventually she looked back at Phoebe, "What about me? You need the Power of Three but there's four of us. So why can't I help you say the spell? Where am I while all of this is happening?"
Phoebe had known that this question would come up sooner or later. The second she had first laid eyes on Prue she had already begun to form an answer in her head, she just hoped it was good enough to discourage further questioning. "Well I didn't want to tell you this because of possible future consequences but you died too. 'Its true. You are dead.' Phoebe took comfort in the fact that she wasn't really lying to her sister but that comfort disappeared when she saw the look on Prue's face.
"Then what are we waiting for? Let's go." Piper stepped forward and it was obvious that the news of her sister's death had instilled a sudden and severe urgency in her.
"Wait Piper. I think I should go." Prue was being the over protective guardian that she had always been but Phoebe knew that it had to be Piper that came with them. If Prue went she would wonder why she wasn't in the Manor with them and then there would be now way around the truth and they couldn't risk that shock affecting her powers. They had one chance and one chance only. If they screwed it up Piper would be lost forever. "No Prue. I'm sorry but it has to be Piper. Its just complicated but it has to be her."
Phoebe had never seen Prue look so crestfallen. Prue hugged Piper and then stepped back to watch from the sidelines as the other three linked arms.
"So how exactly are we getting there?"
"Just leave that us."
Phoebe and Paige both thought once again of Piper. Their hearts merged and became one. Collectively they began to sort through the memories as the flashed by. 'Wait stop! This is it!' They came to a halt. They released one another and were trying to determine what year it was when they heard a voice from the other room.
"We've been waiting for you."
"Well the wait is over."
The three of them rushed into the hall. Billie and Christy were standing at the bottom of the stairs and over by the conservatory was them! Phoebe, Paige, and PIPER! They had finally done it.
All they had to do now was say the magic words.
I'm not going to lie this chapter was a complete BEAST to write. But I really enjoyed writing it and I hope you enjoyed reading it.
