Okay, I know I haven't updated this story in a very long time. In all honesty, I hadn't planned on finishing it. But the most recent comment resparked my confidence and interest. I didn't know how I was going to finish the story, and I felt like it was losing purpose. I still don't know how I'm going to finish. But I hope I do so in the next few chapters. THANK YOU SO MUCH TO THE GUEST REVIEWER. That last comment was so encouraging. You're the reason I even picked this story up again. You rock.


No Way Home

"I'm going to find her," Cori said. She knew exactly what Piper was planning. She was going to find Prue and fight her. Because that worked out so well last time, she grimaced. Piper was going to have to learn her limits. Prue was just too damned powerful, and Piper was still weak from their last meeting. She cringed away from the memory of blood pouring from her aunt's chest.

"Us too," Chris stepped forward. "We have unfinished business with-" he stopped, glanced quickly at Prue then turned away leaving Prue more confused than before. Why was everyone keeping this secret from her? Who were they so scared of they couldn't even say her name? And why had her future sister run off on some apparent suicide mission? It's me.

She didn't know why she had the thought, but it was the only answer that fit. With so many people from the future here now, why couldn't she be? And if she really was evil... "No..." she gasped. She grabbed Cori's shoulders. The girl twisted away. Both Wyatt and Chris took a challenging step forward. "Tell me it's not me," she said.

Cori sighed. She looked into her mother's eyes trying to find the will to lie to her, to tell her of course it wasn't her. Why would they be afraid of her? She would never hurt Piper, but Cori didn't have the strength to lie. She was tired of everything, of fighting, of feeling guilty, of constantly hurting the people around her. She shouldn't have to lie. Her mother shouldn't have turned evil in the first place then she wouldn't even be in this mess.

Cori's silence told Prue everything. "God, no."

Piper put her hand comfortingly on her sister's shoulder. Prue turned around. Piper could see the fear in her eyes. It was strange to her. She had never seen Prue look that way before. Prue had always considered fear a weakness she could never show. "Prue, we're going to fix this. It's going to be okay." Piper wasn't sure if she believed the words, but she forced her voice to sound that way. Anyway, they had to fix it. She had seen and heard enough from her future family to know that if they didn't, everything they had fought for would be lost. Her sister would be lost.

Paige watched the exchange between Piper and Prue. She tried to read Prue's expression. Prue was scared, that was easy to see. Paige figured she would be too if she was resurrected by angel's then told she was future of all evil. But Paige couldn't understand one thing. Why had she and Phoebe sided with Prue? Prue was her sister, but Piper was...what? Piper had been there for her. Piper had gotten them through the last four years safely. Piper loved them. Piper protected them. Why had they turned their backs on her? It doesn't matter. I will always love you.

Cori glanced at Chris who nodded. "Let's go," he mouthed. He was anxious to get to his mother. Perhaps Prue had said she still loved them, but that was only after she'd nearly killed them all. But she didn't. That was the only thing holding Chris back. Prue hadn't killed them, and she'd had the perfect opportunity. She just wants Piper. That's the only thing that made sense to him. And Prue might already have her.

Phoebe was the only one of the sisters to notice the exchange between the future Halliwell children, and she knew what it meant. They were going after Future Piper. They were going to try to save her from Prue. Phoebe was still trying to process exactly what that meant. They shouldn't have to run from Prue. She had always been her protector. Even when she was young and reckless and had pushed her away, Prue had never left her side. She looked at the version of her sister in front of her and realized something that nearly knocked off her feet.

They shouldn't have to run from Prue, but Prue shouldn't be alive. Was that the reason she was evil now?

Phoebe remembered what Cori had said when she first saw her and Paige. They were dead in the future. She didn't know when or how. Had Prue turned her back on good because of their deaths? There were just too many possibilities and no one was giving them any answers. The only three people who could were about to run away again.

"We need answers," she finally said.

Cori, Chris, and Wyatt all stared at her. Wyatt glowered at her. Cori grimaced, but Chris just shook his head. She could swear she saw the words "future consequences" start to form on his lips. She wondered if he remembered the last time he'd been here in the past. By the look he looked at her, like she was still family, he guessed he did.

"Once we get Mom back, then we'll answer all your questions." Chris said before the other two could answer. He knew he had the best relationship with Phoebe even if it was in another time.

"Is anyone going to come down here and tell us what the hell's going on? I didn't come back from the afterlife to just sit on my ass!" Grams yelled from the base of the stairs.

Prue was shocked. "Grams is here?"

"And Mom," Phoebe said. "Oh, and they don't know you are. I mean, not this you." She cast her eyes on the ground remembering the Future Prue that had come back from the future with the others. Grams and their mother had both been here.

Prue swallowed hard. "Mom?"

Piper smiled weakly. "Yeah. Leo brought them here to try and convince us not to trust-you know, it's a long story that we don't have time for. You three," she pointed to the future Halliwell children. All three of them straightened at her voice. She liked the way they listened to her. She would have to ask her future self how she got them to mind her so nicely. "Go find...me. And be careful. Come back here as soon as-"

There was a crash downstairs. The future children each transported themselves down there immediately. It might be Piper, and she could be hurt. Paige grabbed Phoebe and Piper's hands. Piper quickly reached out and taught a hold of Prue just as they all materialized into blue and white orbs.

Little Wyatt ran to his mommy. Future Piper picked up the toddler and hugged him close. He squealed and pointed to Penny and Patty. "It's Grams and Grandma. Like pictures." Then he frowned. "They can't stay."

Future Piper smiled at her past son. "I know, Sweetie."

Cori blazed into the dining room. The rest of the family appeared from orbs. They all sighed in relief at the sight of Future Piper. Little Wyatt stared at Piper then back to Future Piper. "Two mommies..." he muttered shaking his head.

"I think we need to take him and Chris to Dads," Future Piper said. "This is too dangerous for them to be here." She remembered how dangerous the Manor is in the future. Children were never allowed somewhere so magical. The Seeker's Pets hardly ever found them anymore, but a magical child wouldn't stand a chance against them.

"I'll take them." Future Chris volunteered. He was more than relieved to see his mother safe, but it had been years since he'd seen his deceased grandfather. His grandfather was one consistency in both times. He had always been there for him the way his own father couldn't. Chris missed him more than Leo actually.

"Chris!" Little Wyatt yelled excitedly. He orbed himself from Future Piper's arms to his. "You back!"

Chris grinned down at the younger version of his brother. "Yup! You want to go to Grandpa's with me and...bubby?"

Wyatt grinned. "Play games!"

"Candy Land!" Chris smiled remembering that was Wyatt's favorite game growing up. Wyatt nodded. Everyone waited to say anything until after Chris had gathered Little Chris and Wyatt and orbed away. Cori, who had slipped under Future Piper's arms after Wyatt orbed away from her, looked up at her aunt.

"Talk." she said.

Prue noticed the way Cori seemed to revolve around her future sister instantly. A pang of jealousy touched her heart. Cori had barely let her touch her since they arrived at the Manor. Now, she was clinging to Future Piper. She had to remind herself that in her daughter's world she was evil. It was obvious to Prue that Piper wasn't just by the way she looked at her. Which meant they were enemies. Future Piper kept looking at Prue out of the corner of her eye like she expected her to try and attack. Prue reached behind her to take her Piper's hand, just to reassure herself that she hadn't messed up yet. She could still fix this.

Then she thought about what was waiting for her down in the Underworld. Right now, she was the Queen of the Underworld. But that didn't make her evil. She had taken over the Underworld so no one would hurt her or her sisters this time around. She didn't want the power. She just wanted her family safe. She wasn't evil.

Patty, who was sitting on the arm of the love seat rubbing a warm cloth over the still unconscious Leo, stood up when her family orbed downstairs. Both her and her mother had stood shocked when Prue materialized out of the orbs. Not the demonized Prue of the future, but their Prue. Patty was the first to react. She walked over to stand in front of her daughter. Prue smiled at her. "Hey, Mom. I-" what did she say? 'I'm back from the dead, and so are you! Hooray!' Somehow that didn't seem right. Her mom was studying her. She was looking for something , but Prue had no idea what.

"Prue," Patty whispered. She couldn't stand it any longer. She wrapped her arms around Prue and clung to her. She banished the vision of the future version of her daughter. That wasn't going to happen. They were going to fix this.

Future Piper stiffened. Cori hugged her tighter. Her aunt looked down at her. Cori could see something was different. It was obvious Piper had been in a fight. Her clothes were dirty, and sweat splotched her face. But if it was against Prue, she wouldn't be in this good of shape. Unless... Cori didn't press it. She would wait for her aunt to tell like she knew she would.

Penny walked to her granddaughters' side. The six of them looked at each other. It was the first time they had all been together. Even with everything that had happened, this little blessing warmed each of their heart. They didn't forget about the evil that was out there or the future that they needed to fix, but right it didn't matter. They were all here together. Together they would find a way to make things right. Permanently this time.

Wyatt stood apart from the two groups but closer to Cori and his mother. He wasn't able to separate this Prue, Phoebe, and Paige from the ones in his future. Wyatt had never been the objective one. That was Chris. He knew what choices they would make, and he resented them for it. He didn't hate them yet, but he didn't trust them either. "Mom, tell us what happened." He finally said to get his mind off his past family.

Everyone turned to look at her. The five Halliwells from the present each had some part of their body touching Prue. She reveled in the warmth it created.

Future Piper wanted to tell them, tell Cori, everything that had happened, but words couldn't really describe it. Even now she didn't know if it had been real. The angel, Prue, hope...it all felt like a dream. "I saw Prue."

The rest of the family stiffened. Paige, Wyatt, and Cori all glanced at the Prue in front of them. Wyatt didn't trust her. Cori and Paige wanted to see how she would react to the news. She didn't bow under their gazes. She knew they would all be watching her. Future Piper was staring at her now, testing her. This new sense of hope was confusing. She still wasn't ready to fully trust her sister, past, present, or future. "But something happened before that. I think...I think there was an angel. I can't remember what she looked like but I remember feeling...peaceful." Piper sighed as the feeling touched her again.

"An angel of Destiny?" Patty interrupted.

"Maybe. She told me...she told me 'hope lives.'"

"That's kind of cryptic. Encouraging, but she couldn't have given you better advice than that?" Paige hated the Elders obvious enjoyment when they confused the hell out of them. They loved to give cryptic messages like they couldn't just come out and say things. It annoyed the hell of her.

Future Piper grinned at her little sister. Paige's attitude was one of those things she missed most about her sister. "I guess not. She just disappeared after that. I was going to come back when Prue found me. I called for her before the angel. Her mind-" Future Piper didn't know how to describe that either. It was the exact opposite of peace. It was terror and pain and fear. If that was really what Prue lived with every day, she almost felt sorry for her sister.

Cori understood. She still heard the screams and felt the terror of her victims she had killed when she was little. It was part of being a creature of light and darkness. She had learned to push the voices and fear to the back of her head. She couldn't ignore them, but she could move around them.

Future Piper continued. "I almost killed her, but I think she was holding back. I don't think she wanted to kill me." she rubbed the spot on her chest where her sister almost had killed her. "I let her go though. The angel said hope was alive." Now she met the Prue from this time's eyes. "If there really is hope, then she...you...have to still be in there somewhere."

Prue didn't wither under her future sister's stare. She let the words slowly sink in. She hadn't processed all the news her family was throwing at her. She still couldn't believe she was evil. That apparently her and Piper were enemies, but the evidence was there. She wasn't going to fight the obvious. They had a problem, and she was going to fix it. "I know..." but what did she know? What was it she wanted to say to Piper, to her daughter? "I know I've messed up-"

Wyatt scoffed.

"but I want to help. I don't want-" she looked over their bodies, at their scars, at their haunted eyes, "I don't want this."

Future Piper's mouthed twitched. "Would you be willing to die to prevent it? Because that's what has to happen. You can't stay here."

The outcry was immediate. The three Halliwell sisters all stepped in front of Prue. She started to protest, but Piper's voice drowned her out. "You do you think you are to barge into our lives and try to take her away from us?" She was very aware the question was a weird one to ask herself, but that's how she felt. She understood the future was hell, but there had to be another way. She couldn't lose Prue again.

A vision of the future version of her sister flashed before her eyes. Would she still want Prue alive like that though?

Future Piper glared at the past version of herself. "That thinking is the exact reason we lost everything. How do you think you have before the evil starts to take her over? A year? Two? Why don't you ask her who's ruling the Underworld right now? Ask her about the all the demonic powers she's developing. We've already lost our sister."

The sisters turned back around to look at her. Prue glared at Future Piper. She hated her for revealing her secrets like that, but she hated her more because everything she said was true. Ever since she'd come back, Prue had started to get powers she didn't even know existed. They were all demonic. They were all evil. But she used them for good. To kill demons. Not innocents.

"Is that true?" Phoebe asked, but she could tell by Prue's glare at Future Piper that it was.

"Yes," she said looking at Phoebe, "but it's not like that. I don't hurt people with my powers. I kill demons. I'm good." She challenged Future Piper with a look to prover her wrong.

"You will, Prue. You will hurt thousands, millions. You will hurt your own family." Future Piper traced the ridges created by the scar over her heart caused by her sister. She felt Cori shift under her arm.

"You're lying." Prue gritted. "I would never do that."

"It doesn't matter what you believe because they know the truth. What they do with it, will decide all our fates." Future Piper looked at her past self. If anyone needed to understand that it was her. Piper had been the leader against Leo and the Elders when they tried to take Prue away again. She had defended her sister. They had nearly started a war with the Elders. She had given Prue everything, and she threw it in her face. If only she could make her past self realize that no matter how much she loved Prue and would miss her when she's gone, it will be nothing compared to the hurt she will feel if Prue stayed.

Piper was so confused. This was Prue they were talking about. Prue. Her sister. She wasn't evil yet. Her future family hadn't even told them why she had become evil in the first place. Maybe they could fix that like they did with Wyatt. Change one event and the future is completely changed. But Piper knew deep down this was different.

But they were asking her to give up something, someone, who had literally meant the world to her. The first time she had lost Prue, Piper had thought she would never be able to function again. Prue was the rock, the foundation, upon which they had all built their lives around. Even with all this in front of her, she couldn't bring herself to give that up again. "We can find another way."


Future Prue glimmered into the attic. No one was there. She smiled at the Book of Shadows. She was aware the Book wouldn't let her within five feet of it, but Prue had a way around that.

"Ahun Rreyn

Xi Screy Yun

Ti Meik Xsroth"

She whispered the incantation she had stumbled upon years ago in the Underworld. It would bind the Book's power of repelling evil. Not permanently and only for the one who recited the spell. The Book glowed back then returned to normal. She smiled and walked over to its stand. She ran her fingers over the cover. It opened, and it's pages flipped until it landed on the time travel spell.

"Not that I didn't love the visit," she muttered, "but I have business elsewhere."

She walked over to the wall and began to draw a triquetra on the wall. She heard her family, no, she heard the people who used to be her family, talking downstairs. She thought about her last visit with Piper as she drew. Piper had said something confusing. 'If hope is alive then so are you.' She knew her enemies thought she wasn't herself anymore, that some kind of evil had possessed her. But this was her. This was who she, not really wanted to be, but who she needed to be. If they would have just listened to her in the beginning, none of these terrible things would have happened.

Prue stood back and looked at the triquetra: the symbol of her and her sisters and the power that connected them.

"Not anymore," she whispered. The people's voice downstairs trailed up the stairs again. She heard them talking and couldn't ignore the wanting to go see them. To embrace them. She huffed and went to the Book. She had to double-take at the page. It wasn't on the time travel spell anymore.

"To Call A Lost Witch..." Prue read. She growled. "Stupid Book. I don't need that! I need to get back to my time." There was something there. She knew it, but she didn't want to think about why the Book changed pages. It was probably just mad that she'd been able to get around its defenses. She tried to turn the page, but they were stuck together. She attempted to move them telekinetically but they didn't budge. "What the hell?" she grimaced. "I'm starting to get mad. Go back to the time travel spell or so help me I'll burn to ashes."

The Book didn't move. The page stayed put. "Dammit." she muttered.

Prue didn't notice the tall black haired, silver-eyed woman dressed in a white, gold-trimmed robe until she spoke. "Prudence Halliwell, you cannot go back."