A Change in the World.

Half An Hour Ago: Golden-Gate Bridge.

Leo dropped Phoebe off in the Manor's Hallway before orbing out to the top of Golden Gate Bridge. He stood atop the red iron like he had done countless times before but there was something off with the atmosphere. The air was thick and dense with a feeling of unknowing and to breathe it in felt like sucking deodorant straight from the canister. He looked to the city below and felt an equal sense of empowering goodness and tempting evil. He didn't have to be an elder to sense the change in the world. The sky above seemed to be stretching further away and the metal beneath his feet felt dangerous and unstable. He was unsure, he'd never felt such sudden interference with the city except the time Phoebe and Paige crossed over to the mirror world to rescue him and Chris.
He shook the unsure thoughts from his brain only to receive an oceans wave of thoughts of Piper. He had no idea what he was going to say to her or if she was going to speak to him. He honed in on his charges and felt her pain as Phoebe begged her to open the door. Before he could keep his mind set in that place, another Elder appeared in swirling orbs in front of him on the bridge. Sandra, the elder, greeted him by inclining her head of sandy blonde hair. "I'm sorry I wasn't with you sooner, things have been…hectic…up there," Sandra said.

"What's going on?" Leo asked.

"You know what's going on Leo, the worlds in peril. With Odin dead there is no order up there. We have no voice," Sandra said.

"Well you need to get one and fast," Leo said.

"I take it you found Prudence?" the Elder asked.

"We found her, Zankou had her in the Underworld," Leo told.

"To what end?" the Elder asked inquisitively.

"What else? To lure the girls into a trap so that he could get the Nexus. We got Prue out, fought Zankou off and now she's at the club and Zankou's Nexus free," Leo said. "But there's more…Prue's kind of breathing…out of necessity," Leo said. He couldn't think of a better way of putting it. To his knowledge, which was pretty vast, a full resurrection of anybody is completely unheard of. It requires the kind of power both good and evil do not have the access too.

"We thought as much," the Elder said. Leo expected her to be just as baffled as he was when he found out. However she just stood there as richeous as usual.

"What do you mean? You knew?" Leo asked.

"When we sensed the hole a deceased Charmed One used to fill up there we began looking immediately. We sensed her for a brief moment until she vanished from our radar. And for that to happen she had to be either dead or in the underworld and if she were dead she'd be up there. We both know that only a powerful Necromancer has the power to take a spirit to the underworld and the sisters took care of the strongest two years ago. Of course we couldn't be certain. It was when we listened into Piper's office that our suspicions were confirmed," Sandra informed. She sensed the rage in Leo, a rage she hadn't felt since Gideon tried to kill Wyatt. The thought of fleeing the bridge crossed her mind but she was always one of the Elders who had faith in Leo.

"You knew and you didn't tell us?" Leo hissed.

"When we sensed Prue before she was taken to the underworld, she was disoriented, lost, broken and easy prey. We Elders took these feelings away from her. I suspect you've noticed she's acting like she never died at all? We couldn't risk her putting the Power of Three at risk again . Although, we sensed a spike of her old feelings just moments ago?" Sandra asked avoiding Leo's question.

"Yeah she uh…she got kinda' weird about returning to the Manor," he said avoiding eye-contact. "What do we do?"

"Prue is alive Leo, we couldn't take her back up there even if we wanted to, the only thing we can do is try to deal with the imbalance as best we can," Sandra said.

"How?" Leo asked.

Sandra began, "You sense it don't you, extreme good and evil within this very city. Since Prue has been back a woman has survived falling out of a nine story window, a terminally ill infant made a full recovery-"

"But those are all great things!" he interrupted.

"I agree…but as well as all those things…an hour ago a cat gave birth to a litter of snakes, in France a family of four went swimming in a lake when it suddenly began to boil and a baby was born moments ago with it's eyes facing inward," Sandra added solemnly. "I'm afraid we're in serious trouble with the grand design Leo, and the Elders do not have the power to revert it," she echoed.

"What about Prue? If she's alive and you took away her emotions is she going to stay a social vegetable forever?" he asked.

"Like you did with Piper, we plan to give Prue back pieces of the memories of her afterlife up there and the pain of leaving it," she replied. "But we cannot ignore how this came to be, we have to find the thing responsible."

"What should I do?" Leo asked.

"Go back to the Manor, plead with the sisters to help the Elders find Odin's killer and it might lead us to the entity who has the power to bring back life," Sandra didn't wait to say more. She left once the orders were given in a swirl of lights. Leo exhaled, completely stressed and at a loss to find a source to ease it. He thought of the manor and began to orb.

Suddenly, out of the fog that rolled over the bridge, a tower of hellish flames appeared in Leo's line of vision and left in their place the demon Zankou. Leo reacted swiftly and shot lighting from him palms. Zankou hurled to the end of the bride and dented the red iron on impact. "Why must we fight?" he smirked as he shot a fireball at Leo that hit him square in the chest and he hit the iron just as hard. "I have to say that would have stung a lot more were you still an Avatar," Zankou added as he got to his feet properly.

"What are you doing here Zankou?" Leo asked as he got to his feet too and wiped the charred ash from his shirt.

Zankou began, "I've heard you face a little problem-"

"This problem threatens both sides, both good and evil are in the firing line," Leo said.

"My thoughts exactly, and if the elders don't have the power to solve the imbalance, then we go to the people that do," Zankou smirked.

"The Avatar's don't get involved in the affairs of good and evil," Leo stated.

"No…but the tribunal do," Zankou said with a humble gesture with his shoulders.

"Not a chance," Leo objected.

"We've worked together before you and I and that worked out how you wanted it!" Zankou asserted.

"I seem to remember I had to die in the process," Leo glared.

"We both know to summon the tribunal upon a matter that threatens the future of all magic, both sides are needed," Zankou said.

"The tribunal will do anything to keep magic going, that means murder if need be and I am not going to put the lives of the girls on the line to save demons!" Leo snapped.

"It's not just demons Leo! It's everybody, not just the magical world but the mortal world too! A world I believe as a whitelighter you took an oath to protect!" Zankou yelled.

"And just why are you so eager to save magic?" Leo asked suspiciously.

"Same reason I helped with the Avatars…if the sisters are going to die…it's going to be at my hand," Zankou hissed with his words laced with venom.

"I should check with the sisters," Leo said still unconvinced that Zankou's intentions were legit.

"I tried to do this civilly," Zankou dropped a potion at Leo's feet. From that, an explosion erupted and black tendrils bound Leo in place leaving him unable to move, "but you had to involve your stupid wife."

"What have you done to me?" Leo asked as he struggled against to branch like black tendrils.

"It's amazing what you can get a sorcerer to create for you when you hold an energy ball to his head," Zankou laughed as he took an athame from his pocket. It was black at the hilt with a red jewel just below the blade. "Relax," he said as Leo stiffened, "I'm not going to kill you, I need you alive. You see I found a loophole, to summon the tribunal for this…particular…matter. Both Good and Evil blood must be present upon the Circle of Truth. This could have been avoided Leo, but i'm going with or without you." Zankou sliced Leo's arm and collected blood in a vial before storing it in his pocket along with the athame.

"I'm hoping I'll be seeing you and the sisters real soon," Zankou smirked as he erupted in a tower of flames and left behind a bound Leo and a small charred circle upon the red iron of the bridge.


Author's Note: thank you to: LeftWriter224, BitchAmI and darius prince of the sea for reviewing my last chapter, thanks guys.
this chapter was just to explain how the sisters came to be at the tribunal so I hope you enjoyed it. I'll probably update tomorrow as I am planless as usual.

Please please please review and as always, thank you for taking the time to read this.

Also thank you to those people who added this to their story alerts and favourite story lists.