Charmed Reborn Chapter Ten: "Phoebs?"
So bright. So much light. The Seer covered her eyes as she glided upwards, through a cascade of colour, purples, blues, pinks, she had no idea where she was, she looked down, she was naked as the day she'd been born, her body wiped clean, fresh, as if nothing had ever touched it.
She tried to speak, but nothing came out, just silence, what did she remember? Everything. All things. All of time and space ran through her head, she could see it all, what had come to pass, what might come, what it presently is.
She looked up again, she was nearing a platform, it was in the sky, but somehow it also wasn't, it kept fading in and out of existence, like nothing here was stable, always changing. Always shifting.
She reached the platform and her feet touched down, there were others with her, people in blue robes, were these the elders?
"No" a voice said in her head.
The Seer looked around, startled, wondering where the voice had come from.
A woman stepped forward, she was beautiful, dark skin, knowledgeable eyes, who was she?
"I am Destiny" the voice spoke again.
"We are all destiny" she raised her arms to the people around her.
"We exist in a dimension separate from your own".
"We watch everything, we know everything".
"But I died, didn't I?" The Seer asked.
"Yes. And no" she answered.
"We intervened, you might say" the woman smiled.
"And what happens now?" The Seer asked.
"Now, you go back, and fulfil your destiny".
A bright, white light filled The Seer's eyes, she felt a strange sensation, like she had been floating through air and was headed downwards in a hurricane, she span round and around until everything was still.
She opened her eyes, she saw the sky, bright blue, it looked like early morning, now where was she?
She stood and looked down at herself, her scars were back, her red robes were back, she felt her pulse, she was alive, but how?
Now she knew that what she had been planning, all her schemes that she had been plotting, were righteous ones, why else would destiny intervene and allow her to continue living, with destiny on her side, how could she possibly lose? The Seer faded away into the wind in a wave of indigo light.
Prue pulled into the driveway at the manor, just sitting there, thinking. Piper was in the back seat still unconscious, what would she tell her? That their sister had chosen evil over them? It would crush her, but she had no choice.
She got out the car and pulled open the back door, reaching into the back seat to shake her sister awake.
"Eurgh" Piper groaned as she sat up, her hand covering the nasty bruise on her head.
"What the heck is going on?" she asked.
She sat bolt upright.
"Phoebe?" she asked looking around wildly.
"Just me" Prue said, looking down.
"Prue?" Piper asked.
"But how? I thought you were in the underworld?"
"Not anymore, come on, I'll help you inside and explain".
Ten minutes later both sisters sat at the kitchen table, mugs of hot coffee between their hands, not saying much at all. What was there to say? Prue thought.
"There must be a way to get her back" Piper said for the fifth time.
"All those weird spells in the book, we should have taken more notice of them" she continued.
"I still don't really understand what even happened" Prue said.
"Maybe I can help" a voice said.
The sisters stood, looking around, wondering where the voice had come from.
The Seer appeared in the kitchen, looking healthy and alive.
"Huh?" Prue asked.
"But I thought?"
"It takes a lot more than a fireball to kill me" she said, looking proud.
"What are you doing here?" Piper asked.
"Believe it or not, once again I want to help you, but this time, I want to help you destroy The Source".
"And how are we supposed to do that without the power of three?" Piper questioned.
"By getting it back" The Seer as if it were the most obvious answer anyone could give.
Piper rolled her eyes and sat back down.
"Let's just listen to her ok Piper?" Prue begged.
"Go on" she pushed.
"The reason your sister is now evil is because of The Source, when he kept her in that chamber for months you didn't think he had her just sit there rotting did you?" she raised her eyebrow in a questioning manner.
"Phoebe said that he tortured her" Prue said.
"Yes and no".
"He was invading, infecting her mind, with evil, a gradual, slow process, slowly working his way in so that she wouldn't immediately notice, to do so he had to infuse Phoebe with some of his own essence, it is this essence that has swayed her morality".
"So it's not even Phoebe?" Piper asked.
"Oh yes, it is, but right now, she's shall we say, not herself, she is not being controlled, but the essence is what has turned her" The Seer concluded.
"So how do we remove the essence?" Prue wondered.
"There is no way to outright remove it, but if we can get Phoebe to remember that she is truly good, her mind would reject the essence and return her morality to good".
"So how do we do that?" Piper queried.
"You're her sisters, figure it out!" The Seer said as she vanished again.
"Well, I guess we need to find Phoebe then" Prue concluded.
"Well Leo won't be able to sense her anymore, we won't be able to scry for her anymore, so how?" Piper asked.
"I know a guy" Prue said, smiling.
Phoebe sat in The Seer's chambers, her chambers now, it was so dank and dull, she waved her arm and fairy lights appeared across the ceiling, she waved it again and a cream carpet sprung up from the ground, she liked her new powers.
She found the wardrobe, thank God she thought, she opened it only to find a dozen sets of red robes, seriously? She thought.
She put the robes on and looked at herself in the mirror, way too frumpy, she waved her hand over the robes and they turned into a red latex suit, too Britney Spears she thought as she waved it again and it turned black, that's more my colour she thought as she closed the wardrobe and turned around.
The Source was waiting for her.
"Very nice" he said appreciating of her attire.
"Thanks, I thought so".
"I have a mission for you my new assassin".
"Oh yeah, is it fun?" she asked.
"Very".
"I want you to hunt down all the innocents you've saved in the past, and kill them, starting with one of your own" he said handing her a scroll of parchment before flaming out of the chamber.
Phoebe looked down at the parchment and smirked.
"Hmm, too many Brittany's today" she said to herself.
"I'm glad you're ok Prue, I was pretty worried" Will said.
Prue had called him immediately when they remembered what his power was, to sense and find objects and people, which is exactly what they needed right now.
"I'm so sorry about our date, or lack thereof" Prue said sadly.
"It's ok, once this is all over we're going to try again, right?" he looked to her for approval.
Prue smiled, "definitely".
"Hello people! Evil missing sister alert!" Piper exclaimed.
Prue put her arm around Piper's shoulder in comfort to try and calm her down.
Prue nodded to Will, who closed his eyes and concentrated.
Less than 2 seconds later his eyes flew open.
"Quick give me some paper and a pen".
Prue scrambled to find him some and shoved them into his hands where he hurriedly wrote something down.
"Here" he handed them the paper.
"An address?" Piper asked.
"This is where Phoebe is, I think".
"You think?" Piper questioned.
"Well, it hasn't let me down yet" he said whilst standing up.
Piper looked closely at the paper.
"Huh" she said.
"What is it?" Prue asked.
"I feel like I know this address, lemme go check the address book".
Piper scurried off to find it.
At that moment Cole shimmered in, a big smile plastered on his face.
"Ahh Prue, good to see you" he turned to Will.
"And you, whoever you are, where's Phoebe?" he wondered.
Prue looked down to the floor, unsure what to say.
"Sorry mate, she's gone banana's" Will piped up.
Prue shot daggers his way.
"Huh?" Cole wondered.
"The Source has managed to turn her evil by infusing Phoebe with his essence, it's why she's been having such a hard time lately" Prue explained.
"When did this happen?" he asked.
"Last night" Prue said.
Cole looked furious.
"Why didn't you call me?!"
"I could have helped somehow!"
"Oh yeah, how?" Prue countered.
"All that would have mattered is that I was there, but you and Piper have denied me that" he said angrily.
Prue felt pretty bad, in all honesty she had completely forgotten about Cole.
"Well it's not like you've been around much lately" she said.
"Oh, I'm sorry, I guess being kidnapped by The Source and then evading bounty hunters so they don't come here is an inconvenience to you" he shot Prue a look of rage and then promptly shimmered back out.
"Ouch" Will said.
"Yeah, I can't believe we didn't call for him sooner" Prue said, feeling rather stupid.
"He'll get over it, it's a man thing" Will explained.
Piper ran back into the living room.
"I knew I recognised it, look!" she thrust the book into Prue's hands and pointed out the same address.
"But what on Earth would Phoebe be doing there?" Prue wondered.
"Dunno, but it can't be anything good".
"Leo!" they both yelled at the ceiling.
Brittany Reynolds sat in her apartment reading, she had the afternoon off so why not do something she enjoyed?
The doorbell rang, dammit she thought as she put her book down and made her way to the front door.
She opened the door and was startled to see a face she hadn't seen in many years, it was Phoebe Halliwell.
"Phoebe, oh my God, what are you doing here?" she asked.
"It's been so long" she stuttered.
"Yes it has, hasn't it?" Phoebe said sickly sweet.
"I was in the neighbourhood, figured we could catch up" she said innocently.
"Oh well, I'm actually kinda busy right now….." she said.
But Phoebe cut her off sharply.
"You wouldn't deny an old friend a drink now would you?" she questioned.
"Well I…" she started to say before Phoebe raised her fist and punched her in the face, the force of it knocking her back into the apartment.
"What the hell? Phoebe what is wrong with you?" she shouted as she held her nose, blood slowly dripping out.
"Well, you see, I have this problem with the name Brittany, it makes me think of cheerleaders and school girl outfits and frankly it just makes me wanna puke" Phoebe explained, voice dripping with contempt.
"What happened to you?" Brittany asked, terrified.
Before Phoebe could properly reply she stopped moving, completely immobilized.
"Thank God" came another voice Brittany hadn't heard in a long time.
Behind Phoebe stood Prue, Piper and a handsome blond man she didn't recognise.
Leo bent down to heal her nose, his hands turned golden and a wave of healing, soothing light fixed it in a second.
"Brittany are you ok?" Piper asked.
"Yeah I guess, but what the hell happened to your sister?" she asked.
"That's what we're still kinda trying to figure out" Prue said exasperatingly.
"Leo will take care of you until we sort this all out ok?" Piper queried.
"Sure, but how?" Brittany wondered.
"Like this" Leo said as he grabbed her hand and the two of them orbed away.
The sisters turned to look at Phoebe, frozen solid in the air.
"Now what?" Piper asked.
"We need to show her she's good" Prue said confidently.
"Unfreeze her".
"Ok" Piper said, raising her arms and unfreezing Phoebe.
If she was surprised to see the two of them she didn't show it, if anything she just looked annoyed.
"Oh, it's you two, great, here to give me a lecture?" she asked, voice dripping with sarcasm.
"Phoebe, you're good, remember that" Prue said.
Piper turned to look at her.
"That's it?" she asked disbelievingly.
"Yeah I have to admit Prue, not some of your best work" Phoebe agreed.
"Anyways, I've finished college, so no more lectures thank you".
Phoebe turned to leave.
"Phoebe wait!" Piper shouted.
"You can't just leave, we're your sisters, we love you and we want you to come home, The Source has infected you, bent your mind to his will, we can stop it if we try!" Piper exclaimed.
Phoebe looked to Prue.
"You should be taking pointers from Piper" Phoebe said with a nasty smile.
"Well how about this then, how's Cole?" Prue asked.
An electric current seemed to run through Phoebe momentarily, for a second she looked like a small child, her eyes showing signs of love, but it was quickly squashed down as the essence took hold once again.
"Nice try, but he's not needed, I've got all the demon I want!" Phoebe yelled as she raised her hands and waves of fire shot out of them, setting the apartment on fire and blowing Prue and Piper into a window.
They looked up. Phoebe was gone.
"Dammit!" Piper yelled as she stood, freezing the flames as she did so.
The two of them ran to the sink and filled up some buckets of water to tip onto the fire.
"I think we've lost her Prue" Piper said, defeated.
"I don't agree, did you see her face when I mentioned Cole?"
"She did look startled" Piper agreed.
"He's our way in" Prue said.
"Tell me Seer, can she be saved?" Cole asked her.
He had tracked her down in a remote part of the underworld.
Or rather, though she hadn't told him this, she had let him track her down.
"She can be, but only with your help, your love, the passion you two share, will reignite her mind, reversing her morality" she explained.
"But how do I do that?" he questioned.
"By making the ultimate sacrifice" she said with finality
"There must be another way" he said, not believing her.
"And I'll find it, I'll get her back myself" he shimmered out.
He snuck into Phoebe's new chambers that used to belong to The Seer, he looked around, he couldn't see Phoebe anywhere.
Until a huge geyser of flame erupted from the well in the centre, shooting Phoebe out from within.
He ran to her but she raised her hands and pushed him back, the force of her push knocking him down on to the ground. She had gotten strong, no doubt a side effect of the essence within her.
"Phoebe, please, I know you're in there, I can help you, it's me" he said.
"Yes it is, and you're still just as pathetic as usual, unable to accept the true you, the inner Belthazor, what did I ever even see in you?" she asked nastily.
Cole stood, not backing down on this.
"I won't leave" he stated.
"Then I'll just have to make you" she said, eager for a fight.
"I won't fight you either, you're the woman I love, the only woman I will ever love".
Phoebe cracked, she looked down at her hands, they were shaking, she felt a cold sweat on her lower back, what was going on? Where was she?
"Cole?" she asked, looking up.
She ran to him, throwing her arms around his neck and kissed him fiercely.
"I don't understand, what is going on?" she asked him.
"I don't need to explain right now, just know that you're safe with me".
"Well you're not safe with me" Phoebe said.
Cole looked down, she was smiling and her eyes had gone black, no, he had lost her again, the essence of The Source was too strong and had regained control.
"You should have just said if you wanted some alone time with me" she smiled sadistically.
Cole pushed her away, this wasn't Phoebe, and now he knew what he needed to do.
He looked at her sadly.
"I love you" he whispered before shimmering away.
"How sweet" a chilling voice said.
The Source appeared in a cascade of flame along with a woman tied up by his feet, who was she? Phoebe wondered.
"I've had enough of interruptions, you will seal your conversion to the evil side or else!" he boomed, producing an athame from his robes.
Phoebe stepped towards him, grabbed the athame and turned the girl over as The Source backed away behind her, as soon as she saw the girl's face Phoebe was thrown into a premonition, a young girl, a witch, who owned a magic shop, she could see Darryl pulling the girl to the ground before her shop exploded. Her eyes opened as the vision ended, it was the past, and now Phoebe knew who this girl was, it was Marcy Steadwell, an innocent they had saved from an assassin two years previously. Phoebe's hands began to tremble, she couldn't do it, she was confused, what was happening to her? She backed away slowly and almost tripped on The Source's feet.
"Such a disappointment" he snarled.
Then everything went black.
Phoebe awoke on the ground, unsure of what time it was, but then she realised, she was in her chambers, she stood, almost slipping on something, she looked down. Blood.
Her eyes trailed across the room and found the body of Marcy Steadwell by the bed, covered in stab wounds. What had she done?
"I admire your work Phoebe, good job" The Source said behind her, almost purring with satisfaction.
"What do you have to say?" he asked.
She couldn't see him wave his arm behind her to resume control over her mind, her eyes went black, she smiled.
"I think that was fun" she said darkly.
"I have what you wanted, my liege" Titus said.
"It'll be noticed quickly, so whatever you're planning on doing, I'd do it quickly" he added.
The Seer smiled.
"My liege, I could get used to that" she said contently.
She took the Grimoire from Titus' hands, now it was time for her plan to come to fruition, she had moved all the players into the right spot. Now it was time for the games to begin.
End of Chapter Ten, stay tuned for Chapter Eleven: "The Sting of Betrayal".