"I was hoping that no one would be able to heal me, and maybe then I could rest."

Cole felt his very soul sink, leaving a void in the pit of his stomach; he embraced his daughter, and her tears spilled out onto his shoulder. The two stood there, until the Charmed Ones arrived on the scene, completely oblivious to what they were disturbing.

But it's these moments in life, as we witness the ones we love break down, that we have a moment of perfect clarity. That everything seems to make sense, and solution is just lying right in front of you, waiting to be grabbed. It's when you see how some people are losing strength that you discover the answer to the great problem.

Cole had that moment. And despite of all the pain right now, he smiled. Things could turn around...

Very, very soon...

In the Leprechaun Valley…

Phoebe approached her daughter, who now leaned against a willow tree, staring out across a serene, lily-filled pond.

As she walked closer to Melody, so many thoughts flooded into her head. Stray emotions from Melody appeared and disappeared like smoke on the water. Phoebe's own thoughts strayed to when she was slowly going evil, after she had married Cole and become the Queen of the Underworld.

If anyone, she understood what her daughter was going through. She just wanted a way to tell her. Her maternal instincts, though underdeveloped, were demanding this.

Melody looked up as her mother come closer.

"Look, if you want to attack me or something for being evil, can you please wait a few days? I'm still sore from being gutted."

Phoebe winced. But she hid it well.

"Nah, I'm a pacifist."

Melody smiled, and Phoebe decided that she like that expression much more than the intimidating one. "Of course."

"You?"

"Well," Melody began, "I used to be. But the Powers that Be, or whoever's in charge, has a sick sense of humor."

"Why do you say that?"

"I'm the damn Source!"

Phoebe looked into her eyes, and she saw tears threatening to brim over her eyelids. Melody also realized this, and furiously wiped her eyes with the back of her hand. She gazed back out to the water.

Phoebe wasn't going to let it go too easily. She walked over, and obstructed Melody's view of the water. Left with no other choice, Melody looked back at her mother.

"What do you want with me?" she asked quietly, pleadingly. Phoebe's heart broke, and rejoiced at the same time. She was getting through the hard shell, and into the beautiful exterior.

"Just tell me what happened," she said gently.

"I can't. Future consequences." She said without emotion.

"Oh, I am so sick of that crap!" Phoebe expelled, "Chris hits us with that all the time. Just tell me. I can help."

"No one can help me."

"We won't know until we try," Phoebe said eagerly. "I'm sure there's a spell that we can use to extract the Source from you –"

"You don't get it!" Melody exploded. "I told the Source into me voluntarily. Hell, I even hunted it down and killed the demon it inhabited, knowing what would happen to me! I needed it!"

"Why?" Phoebe asked, aghast with her daughter. An unwanted though entered her head.

What if she really is just like Cole was? Power-hungry?

"Never mind." Melody said dismissively.

"No," her mother demanded firmly. "I need to understand. Just let me in!"

Melody closed her eyes.

"Because if I didn't have that power, then Wyatt would have!"

"You became the Source…to save people?" Phoebe realized incredulously.

"Yes," Melody whispered, "if Wyatt had that kind of power, then he would have destroyed us all. I mean, a Twice-Blessed Source? It was genocide if we didn't do something."

"We?"

"Yeah," Melody admitted. "Dad and I. Except – "

"Except what?"

"Except, I messed up the plan." Melody shifted uncomfortably. "I had heard stories about when Dad was possessed by the Source. He was the one who was going to kill the Source, and get the power. He had already made a potion we could use to vanquish him if things got out of control. But…"

She paused.

"But at the last minute, I jumped in. I vanquished the Source, and got the power. I just… I just couldn't loose another parent. Not again. And I didn't want my kid sister growing up without a father."

Phoebe, for once, was speechless.

"Dad was so mad at me after, but he was so worried, too. He knew what the Source can do to someone."

Phoebe was almost afraid to ask. But she had to know…

"Have you been…feeling the effects?"

Melody paused.

"Sometimes, at the beginning. That's how I met David, actually."

"What? What were you doing?" Phoebe asked, curious. Ah romance, she thought - my territory.

"Well," Melody started, a small smile appearing on her face as she revisited the memory that changed her life…

Flashback – Five Years Ago (future time)

Melody stumbled to the hard, stone floor. Her knees were scrapped and bloodied, and her palms held their own crazy maze of scraps and bruises.

Hot tears flowed freely from her cheeks, tasting salty in her mouth. She though of how Leo had stared at her when he heard what had happened. She felt like something sub-human, something to be shunned - or vanquished.

She felt evil. No, she thought to herself, she was evil. How could she not be? She was the Source of all Evil.

She shook her head furiously, trying to get the thought out of her head. But it wouldn't go away.

She heard footsteps approaching. She was afraid it was Leo, so she hid behind a boulder, and became invisible.

But instead of the self-righteous elder, a teenage boy of about sixteen, like herself, came around the bend and stopped. She peered through the rock's crevice at him.

He was good-looking, she decided instantaneously.

He stared at the rock, and his eyes connected with her. She forgot why she had been crying.

"Hello," he said quietly, his voice creamy, like thick milk chocolate.

Oh, crap. He could see her.

She decided to take a risk, and show herself. She stood up, and walked toward him.

"May I ask why you're crying?"

"You may ask," she replied, "but you may not get an answer."

"You're beautiful."

Melody was taken back.

"Do you say that to every girl you meet?" What? She though to herself, where did that come from? She was deep in depression just a few second ago. Now, she felt confident, powerful…

Beautiful…

"Oh, I'm sorry," the boy said apologetically. "But I, well, I can read auras. You know, I see the inside."

Her heart sunk.

"How can I be beautiful to you?" she murmured. "I'm evil."

"What!" he said, incredulously. "No, you're not!"

"You don't even know me!"

"I see what's inside you!"

"I'm the damn Source of All Evil!" She shrank back, realizing with dread what she had just said. She moved to escape.

"Of course you have something fighting inside you," he said dismissively, "everyone does."

"Source. Me. Evil." She shot back abruptly.

"Soul. You. Breathtaking." He mimicked, with a smile.

"I don't believe you." She turned to leave, and sulk somewhere else.

"Then I'll show you."