In the foggy burnt smelling nothingness, Paige found Americus, the Elder that started her voyage as her own sister's mentor and whitelighter. Dressed in the outdated Elder robes, he approached Paige with a very pleasant expression on his face.
"Paige Matthews. I am very pleased with how you have been handling your duties over the past week. You are truly deserving of your future reputation. Even the hard to please Prue Halliwell has accepted you. Most impressive I must say," Americus said glowing in her presence.
Paige looked a bit uncomfortable at her as yet unearned 'legendary' status. "Hey, I was just doing my job. And it took all my self-control not to turn Gideon in. That Anti-Prue was quite a challenge though," admitted Paige thoughtfully. "It helped having met her sisters."
"Your patience will be rewarded. And you are wise not to punish those who have not yet committed any crimes. That can cause unforeseen consequences," he reminded her.
"Yea, yea. I'm not going to go down THAT road again," she said a bit disgusted. "Now why did you call me up here anyway?"
"To save you from the changes that caused the loss of Prue. Then you can affect the outcome of their ultimate challenge. The change approaches," he said solemnly. He looked down as if he were meditating.
A shiver went through Paige's body as all of reality seemed to pass through a warped mirror. Everything went out of focus and then seemed to return undisturbed.
"The change has occurred," explained Americus as he looked up at Paige.
Paige looked at her hands strangely and then shook some cobwebs from her head. "Like what did just change?"
He put his hands out. "Everything. Your sister just made a pack with the Source of All Evil," he said rather distastefully.
Paige looked over her shoulder. "That can't be. No wait, Phoebe did tell me. To save Piper she had some time demon rewind that day," said Paige.
The Elder nodded in agreement. "That would be Tempus. And when time resumed, Phoebe was still in the Netherlands and was not in their house to try to vanquish Shax resulting in Prue's death. And you must go to them now!" exclaimed Americus as Paige quickly orbed out.
Into the Manor ran Prue, Piper and a middle-aged man wearing a hospital coat who looked both worn-out and confused.
Prue looked all around, saw nothing and then turned to their charge. "Look, I know that this all sounds incredible, but it doesn't make it any less true. All right! You're a healer. You do good. Now either you have saved too many lives or you're about to save a life that they don't want you to save."
Dr. Griffith tried to understand this strange woman. All he could ask was, "They?"
Prue scratched her head knowing how lame their work sometimes sounded to non-believers, "Yeah, demons. Uh, more specifically, Shax. He was The Source's assassin."
The doctor shook his head and then came up with the only logical solution he could think of, "Hold it, I get it. This is a practical joke, right? Do you have a hidden camera here? My second wife put you up to this? Ah, it's just like her," he said laughing.
Prue shook her head. "O-o-okay, Dr. Griffiths, listen to me, this is anything but..." she said stopping when she had a very funny feeling.
"What?" asked Piper looking around nervously.
Prue though up her hands, "I don't know. I just felt a chill. Phoebe?" she called upstairs. In the first timeline phoebe distracted Shax with a spell that distracted rather than vanquished him. This time around he did not retreat. "Phoebe, are you there?"
The tornado that Shax traveled in broke through the front door as Prue again called out, "Phoebe, where are you?" The wind knocked both Piper and Prue to the floor.
A clap of thunder sounded as the blue-gray arctic-like demon Shax appeared in the Manor hallway.
"Dear God!" Dr. Griffith said quietly as Shax hurled an energy ball at him.
Prue jumped up, pushed the doctor out of the way getting hit. She was thrown through the wall landing all bloodied on the conservatory floor. Piper quickly stood up and got the same treatment flying through the wall landing next to Prue.
Shax seemed to smile and turned toward the doctor.
"What are you?" he asked scared to death.
"The end," Shax moaned as he threw an energy ball at the doctor sending him crashing through a window. With Prue and Piper unconscious on the floor Shax turned back into the wind and flew out the front door breaking glass as the door slammed shut.
Back in the conservatory Leo orbed in. His heart nearly stopped witnessing the destruction and the bloody mess of Prue and Piper. Both witches had massive internal injuries that would quickly take their lives.
"Piper!" Leo moaned as he reached for her, then Prue and then back to Piper. His hands warmed up as Piper began to heal. Her injuries were so bad that it took a long time to heal them.
Paige joined him. "Good God! This is a mess," she said taking a step back. She assessed the situation and immediately began to heal Prue. After about a minute she could tell that she was loosing her.
"Leo. This isn't completely working!" exclaimed Paige. "Prue is slipping!"
"Concentrate, Paige. The power is in you," said Leo who tried to heal Piper faster.
Paige concentrated harder. She knew that this moment was the death of her sister Prue. It was part of their history. It was a part of her own history. Destiny was hard to beat, but Paige was determined. She could still feel Prue continue to slip away. Her internal bleeding was sapping the life from Prue's brain.
"Leo!" called out Paige. "It's not working!
Leo looked down at his beloved Piper. She stirred and moaned lying on the floor. Her head and arm was still bleeding. Leo had to decide. From his own medical training he could see that Piper was almost healed and was probably stable. He reached over and helped Paige. With the power of two white lighters her internal injures disappeared, the blood dried up and she seemed to move about in her unconscious state.
"GO ahead Leo, I've got her. Tend to Piper," she said releasing him.
Leo nodded and then finished his wife. Both witches were not conscious, but were completely cured.
"Piper?" he asked holding her tightly. "You're going to be OK. You're going to be OK," he said rocking her head.
"And Prue, too," piped in Paige. Then she said "Thank God!" under her breath since this is not the original outcome. She had been summoned; she had saved her and what her consequences her actions wrought were still ahead of her. "Ah, Leo? Where's Phoebe?"
Leo shook his head and then replied, "In the underworld. I left her with the Source." He brushed Piper's hair out of her eyes and then caressed her cheek.
"The Source? If this Shax guy senses what we did, he'll be back. WE or rather they need all three sisters. You know, the power of Three? I don't know where she is and you do. I'll watch Piper .. and Prue. I promise!" she said hold up her hand.
Leo looked up sadly. "Sure," said Leo as he orbed out.
Paige gently caressed each of her sisters trying to awaken them. "No? Well, just sleep there ladies. We have a brave new world ahead of us."
