A/N. Thanks for the reviews. I only got two reviews, and I've noticed that lately they've been a bit less than usual. Is no one interested in this story anymore, or has my writing been rubbish? Please review and let me know if it's worth finishing.

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Chapter 12

"Oh, surprise. Here we go, up the stairs, into the attic, grabbing the Book Of Shadows," Prue complained, storming over to the podium where the book was usually kept. "Please tell me we're not still doing this is ten years."

"Apparently not."

"What?"

"The book is gone."

"No, it has to be here somewhere. We need it for the return spell."

"Prue…"

"Piper, just help me look for it," Prue snapped, slamming a drawer shut.

"Okay, relax. We'll find it."

"You don't know that." Prue spun to Piper. "I mean, what if it's lost? Then we're stuck in the past with no way of getting home and no way of saving Lexy." Prue gestured angrily with her hand. A telekinetic wave spread through the room, knocking over all objects in its path. Even the far attic wall and windows were blown out by the force.

"Been working out?"

"I guess that's a sample of what ten years does to your powers."

"And to our attic," Piper quipped, glancing around at the destruction. On the bottom of an over turned table something gold glittered. "A key."

"It's the key to my wall safe at 415," Prue realised.

"D'you think that means it's there?" Piper asked. "We've never taken the book out of the house before."

"We haven't, but maybe our future selves have. The question is why?"

"We don't even know what we're like in this time period, let alone what we think," Piper responded. "But if the book is at 415 it might give us some answers."

"All right, then we go there first. Then to see if Lexy's okay."

"Whoa, what happened here?" Phoebe stood in the doorway, her expression awe-struck.

"Prue's power got a little upgrade."

"I see that."

"Have you been crying?" Prue asked, noticing Phoebe's puffy eyes and blotchy skin.

"Me? No." Phoebe dropped her gaze.

"What happened?" Prue demanded, knowing instantly she was lying.

"Oh, it's horrible!" Phoebe cried tearfully. "I found out Jake and I can't have children naturally. We've been trying IVF ever since 2015."

"Oh Phoebes." Piper reached out and wrapped her arms around Phoebe.

"It will happen," Prue promised her.

"But we've been trying for two years," Phoebe sniffed. "Or, we will try for two years. Or … something…"

"You're still young, just give it time," Piper soothed.

Phoebe nodded and wiped her eyes.

"Okay now" Prue asked gently.

Phoebe nodded again with a watery smile.

"Good because we've got a book to find and a niece save."

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"I can't believe you get a limo and a driver," Piper told Prue as they climbed from her car.

"You're married to an angel," Prue shot back. "With two beautiful daughters."

"Was married," Piper corrected. "And you've got Caitlyn. You could have several."

"Ex's?"

"No, kids."

A man across the courtyard bumped into a woman, spilling coffee over them both. Piper automatically froze them. Everything else had grown silent. With shock Piper realised she had frozen the whole courtyard, even a helicopter hovering way over head.

"Okay, apparently Prue's isn't the only power that's grown," Phoebe stated. "You've frozen…"

"Everything," Piper finished. "What a difference a decade makes."

"What the hell are you doing?"

The Charmed Ones spun around to see Leo striding towards them.

"Whoa," Phoebe murmured, placing a hand over her heart.

"What's wrong?" Piper asked.

"I just never realised how hot Leo was."

"Huh?" Piper asked furiously.

"Oh – oh!" Phoebe cried. "Yuck! I didn't mean that!"

"Yuck?" Piper repeated angrily.

"I think she was channelling your emotions," Prue realised. "Her empathy's grown uncontrollable."

"Oh. But I still resent the 'yuck'. Leo, I'm so glad you're here, I have so many-" Piper took a step towards the whitelighter.

Leo backed up.

"Ow," Phoebe muttered, feeling Piper's hurt and bewilderment mixed with Leo's rage. "This is giving me a headache."

"What's wrong?" Piper asked her husband. And then she remembered. Leo wasn't here husband here.

"I knew you'd do something stupid like this. You used your magic in public? What's the matter with you? Are you insane?"

"Leo…"

"Remember he thinks we know what's going on," Prue whispered to Piper.

"You want to end up like your daughter? We had an agreement – no magic for Melinda's sake."

"Melinda?" Piper asked.

"Our youngest daughter. What's wrong with you?"

Suddenly a woman stepped out of a building and spotted the frozen courtyard with only the Charmed Ones and Leo mobile. "Witch!"

"Okay, what's going on here?" Prue demanded.

"Prue…" Piper pointed towards a cluster of posters tacked to a wall. Nathaniel Pratt stared out of them with the words – 'rid the evil, turn in witches,' emblazoned across the top and bottom.

"Over there! Witch!"

The scene unfroze.

"Okay, we gotta get out of here before they catch us," Leo said urgently.

"They?"

"The witch hunters."

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At the Hobart State Penitentiary, a secure prison, Lexy sat crossed legged on her hard bed, staring at the grimy, slate grey walls in her cramped cell. Her long, once beautiful brown hair hung limp and greasy over her shoulders and her skin was deathly pale.

At the sound of a beep and a door opening, she looked up hopefully. "Mom? Dad?"

"They haven't visited you yet, why would they come now?"

Lexy jumped off her bed as the man who had put her there walked up to her bars.

"No… they're going to be as happy to get rid of you as I am," Nathaniel Pratt taunted.

"What do you want?" Lexy demanded.

"I'm sorry it's been so long since our last visit. Executions are a bitch to plan. Logistics, alerting the media, gathering the kindling."

"Bastard," Lexy spat.

"Ooh, touchy," Pratt mocked. "I just came to tell you you've got five hours to live. Tick tock."

"Five hours?"

"I'm glad to see the seriousness of your crime has finally hit you. See… you represent everything I abhor. You're a threat. A danger to everything that is good a pure in our world."

"You're talking out of fear. Just because you don't understand something doesn't make it evil."

"No, it's you who doesn't understand. You killed a man using your power, and now you're gonna die because of it. I only wish I could burn all of your kind with you. But don't worry. In time I will. This is only the beginning."

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Leo led the Charmed Ones along a deserted street in silence. Rubbish lined the pavement and Phoebe even spotted broken alcohol bottles and used needles. She shivered involuntarily. The ghosts of the street's awful past still hung in the air.

Leo stepped in front of an entrance boarded over with severely scratched plank of wood. He pushed the board aside and allowed the witches to enter, before stepping inside and sealing the entry shut.

Prue, Piper and Phoebe followed their whitelighter up a flight of stairs to where a closed door stood. Leo pushed open the door to reveal a huge room crammed with people, sleeping bags, clothes and even cooking equipment.

"Leo, where are you taking us?" Phoebe asked. She could feel fear prickling at the back of her neck, and it wasn't her own.

"A place where witches have been hiding ever since Lexy started the witch trials."

"How? How did she start them?" Piper asked.

"Don't pretend like you don't know," Leo spat.

Piper felt stung. Leo had never spoken to her like that before.

"Leo we don't know. The Piper, Phoebe and Prue you see before you are from the past. Ten years ago," Prue insisted impatiently. They had been through this before.

"So we have no idea what's going on," Piper added.

"Don't even lie to me. All right, Lexy is set to die today and I only hope this madness dies with her."

Suddenly Piper stepped forward and kissed him with all the love and passion she felt for him.

"You haven't kissed me like that since…"

"Since this morning, 2007, remember?" We'd just found out Lexy had been given another power; telekinesis. Then Phoebe got the premonition, we went to the attic, told you we were leaving, and came here. To the future. If you don't believe me, at least believe what you feel. Trust that."

"I remember," Leo stated. "So this is where you came? You don't remember what's happened in the last ten years? Any of it?"

Prue shook her head in confirmation.

"These people… they're here, underground, because they've been accused of witchcraft."

"They're witches?" Phoebe asked. That explained the fear.

"Some of them," Leo replied. "Most of them have been falsely accused. But they're safe here for now."

"What did Lexy do?" Piper wondered.

"Six months ago she… killed a man. Cal Greene."

"The baseball player? That's crazy. I know my daughter and she'd never hurt anyone."

"She hurt him. Because he murdered someone. Someone Lexy cared about very much. Her best friend who he brutalised. But a technicality set him free. Lexy was outraged, furious. And that's when she crossed the line from protecting the innocent to punishing the guilty. She used her power to kill Greene, got caught, and her magic was exposed by Nathaniel Pratt."

"And this is the result?" Piper asked incredulously. "Modern day witch trials with Pratt at the helm?"

"And Lexy at the stake," Phoebe added.

"We have to get to her," Piper realised.

"You can't," Leo told her. "As it stands, you three and the rest of the family are safe. Pratt checked you out and doesn't suspect you as witches. To get to Lexy you'll have to use your powers. And they'll catch you and kill you."

"Leo, she's our daughter. You might be able to stand back and let her die, but I can't."

The Charmed Ones turned to leave.

"Wait, she's calling," Leo called.

"Then we'll go to her," Piper decided.

"No. I'm still your guide and her father. I can orb in and keep you safe."

"Fine," Piper agreed reluctantly. "Then we'll go to 415, get the book and find the spell to take us home."

"We'll meet you at the Manor," Prue said.

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"Wanna tell me again how screwed we are?" Piper paced the living room of the manor anxiously. They had just discovered that the return spell was no where in the book.

"Pretty screwed," Prue supplied.

"Thanks. I wonder what's taking Leo so long."

"You know, some of these pages are marked," Phoebe noticed. "The top corners are turned down and they're all new spells."

"Such as?" Piper asked.

"A spell to create a door, one to induce slumber, a glamour to change one's appearance," Phoebe listed.

"Some of them have these little baggies attached," Prue added, lifting up a velvet pouch.

"They must be potions of some kind," Piper concluded, joining her sisters on the couch.

"But what about these?" Prue asked, gesturing to the yellow pages. "Okay, one to create money, to bend someone's will, to erase a memory, a binding spell."

"Binding?" Piper repeated. "What are all these marked for?"

"This must've been our future selves' plan," Phoebe realised, flipping a page. "Here's a prison map. We were gonna use all of this to break Lexy out."

"But something's bothering me," Prue said, frowning. "Clearly some of these are personal gain."

"Which would break the most basic of Wiccan rules," Piper added. "We wouldn't do that."

"Not even to save a child?" Phoebe returned.

The front door slammed shut and Leo stepped in.

Piper rose to greet him. "Perfect timing, we found the book but – where's Lexy?"

"In prison where she belongs."

"Leo, you were supposed to bring her back here!" Phoebe cried.

"No, I said I'd go to her," Leo answered.

"You're her father – well, not biologically, but I thought you loved her," Piper said. She couldn't believe Leo was acting as if Lexy meant nothing to him.

"I do. I love her with all my soul."

"So you're just gonna let her die?" Piper demanded tearfully.

"I'm trying to protect the greater good. If Lexy lives, if you use your magic to save her the persecutions will continue. And Melinda will grow into a world where her power is punishable by death."

"Oh, so this is what it comes down to," Piper said bitterly. "You're favouring your 'real' daughter. You love her more."

"Of course not!" Leo cried. "I'm not just doing it for her – but for all the other witches in the world."

"You'd be willing to sacrifice our daughter for the greater good?"

"She is guilty Piper. She killed a man."

"She killed a killer," Piper corrected.

"And she deserves to be punished."

"Like hell," Piper spat, lifting her hand and freezing him.

"He's gonna stay frozen, right?" Prue asked.

"If he knows what's good from him, he'll stay frozen."

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"So far, so good," Prue whispered as they ran along the prison's outer walls.

"Don't people normally break out of prison?" Piper quipped.

"Nothing about this is normal," Phoebe replied.

"To create a door," Piper read. "Okay, but where?"

"No place like here."

"Okay." Prue drew a rough door on the slate grey surface with a piece of chalk.

When you find your path is blocked,

All you have to do is knock.

Phoebe tapped the wall and a section of it swung open.

The three sisters stepped in and the door swung shut.

They made their way through the vast prison, following a map.

"Freeze!" An armed guard stepped out from behind a corner, pointing his gun at the sisters.

"Good idea." Piper lifted her hands and instantly he became immobile.

"All right, her cell should be up those stairs," Prue said, consulting the map.

The Charmed One set off at a run.

"She'll be guarded," Prue warned. "Ready for this?"

"Do we have a choice?" Piper replied.

They turned a corner only to find it empty.

"We're too late."

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Lexy walked down a corridor, her wrists chained so she couldn't use her powers and escape. Behind her were numerous guards. In front of her stood Nathaniel Pratt, grinning smugly. A fire raged in the room behind him.

The guards led her towards the pyre, which had now settled down. She was chained to a pole in the centre of the pyre.

"I love the smell of burnt witch in the morning," Pratt taunted. They were the only two in the execution room.

"At least I'm paying for my crime," Lexy spat, her voice strong and clear. "There'll come a day when you have to pay for yours too."

"Remorseless to the end, huh?" Pratt turned away from the teenage witch to address the cluster of reporters behind a glass screen. "Let today be a lesson to al those who seek to defy human nature with their way of life. Let today serve notice that black magic will not be tolerated in our society. And let today be remembered as the day we burned the witch!"

The scene froze; Pratt pointing to Lexy and a guard about to start the fire.

"Mom!" Lexy cried. "Aunt Prue, Phoebe."

Piper made her way to Lexy and unchained her. "Come on we're getting you out of here."

"No, wait," Lexy protested. "Mom, I'm serious."

"What are you talking about?" Piper demanded.

"You guys have to leave. I deserve to be here."

"But you killed a killer. Don't be ridiculous," Prue argued.

"This is Pratt's personal crusade. It's not about us, it's about him," Phoebe added.

"If anyone deserves to die, it's him," Prue agreed, raising her hand.

"Prue, what are you doing?" Piper asked.

"Saving the future of good witches."

"Aunt Prue, wait. Don't. Don't become a murderer too."

Prue lowered her hand and gazed at her eldest niece.

"Don't ask me to watch my daughter die," Piper pleaded.

"You don't have to," Lexy said. "Dad told me you're from the past. You can go back and change the future so none of this happens." Lexy's voice cracked with emotion, her face wet with tears. "Our job is to protect the innocent, not punish the guilty. I crossed the line and I know that."

"We are not going to let you die," Piper protested, her own face tear stained.

"Mom, you were sent here for a reason. Not to save me, but to learn why this has to happen. I don't want to die, but I don't want you to die because of me."

Piper wrapped her arms around Lexy, too distraught to speak. She didn't want to ever let go, but eventually she was prised away. Prue and Phoebe hugged Lexy too, before she got back into place on the podium. Time flicked back into motion.

Almost immediately the flames leapt up, consuming Lexy in their midst. Piper clung to Prue and Phoebe, her body wracked with sobs as her daughter's screams filled the air…

And suddenly, the screams had gone, the sisters could no longer feel the heat from the fire. They were back at the Manor in 2007.

"Lexy!" Piper yelled, uncurling herself from her sisters. "Lexy!"

"What Mommy?" Lexy appeared at the doorway, looking happy and healthy.

"Oh thank God," Piper breathed. She crouched down and hugged Lexy, sobbing silently into her soft hair.

"What's wrong Mommy?"

"Nothing's wrong ladybug. Everything's prefect."

"Can I go and play then?"

"Of course." Piper pulled away, but held her daughter at arm's length. "Just promise me you'll stay safe."

"I promise."

Piper released her daughter and go to her feet.

"Okay?" Prue asked.

"Yeah. We're home."

"Yeah home, but when?" Phoebe wondered, switching on the TV.

"And Cal Greene tied a record today by smashing his sixth grand slam of the year-"

"Wait, that's the baseball player," Phoebe realised. "That's what triggered my premonition. We're back where we started, that day we cast the spell."

"Why?"

"Because it worked," Prue replied. "We were sent to the future to find out what Lexy did and to stop it from happening."

"But we didn't cast a spell to come back. We didn't even have one," Piper pointed out.

"Maybe they sent us back," Phoebe said.

"But who? And why today? If we were sent back to keep the future from happening, shouldn't we have been sent back to the day Phoebe killed Greene?"

A dog barked and all three sisters shot to the window. The man and his dog were once again outside the Manor.

"Not again," Prue moaned.

"This guy still hasn't learnt his lesson," Piper said, lifting up the window so Prue could get a good shot.

"Apparently, neither have we."

Prue and Piper turned to look at Phoebe, both confused.

"I think this is why we were sent back here, to this moment in time. This is where it all started," Phoebe continued. "This first time we used our magic for revenge."

"But it's just a little thing," Piper protested. "It's harmless."

"Yeah, but once you break the small rules it's only a matter of time before the big ones are next. And then it's passed to the next generation."

"A very smart girl once told us we're supposed to protect the innocent, not punish the guilty" Prue said.

"She hasn't told us yet," Phoebe joked.

"Now, maybe she won't have to," Piper said.

"Pratt!" Prue gasped, turning to look out the window.

Sure enough, the man with his dog was Nathaniel Pratt.

"Do you think we should follow?" Piper asked.

"No," Phoebe replied. "Our little act of revenge may have been what sent Pratt on a path to find his own."

"Which may have been enough to start the future witch trials," Prue added. "Hopefully now he won't."

"I still think we should keep an eye on him," Piper said.

"Absolutely," Prue agreed.

As Prue and Phoebe left the room, Leo orbed in behind his wife.

"Hey stranger," Piper greeted, kissing him passionately.

"I would have settled for a nice hello."

"Didn't anyone tell you never to settle?"