Chapter Twenty-Five: Future Dangers

Previously in Diamond From Black Dust...

Paige frowned at her daughter and looked into her blue eyes. "We'll figure this out, Tara," Paige promised, pulling her daughter into her arms as Tara begin shaking from the sobs escaping her throat. "We'll figure this out."

"I think we already have," Piper announced, walking into the room with Phoebe behind her.

"What do you mean?" Paige asked, as she turned to face her sisters, staring in surprise at the figure standing behind her sisters.

Standing behind the two older charmed sisters was a dark haired woman with black eyes and veins sticking out of her cheek. Paige watched in surprise and horror as the black eyes turned from black to blue. "Hi, Mom," the voice said softly, giving Paige a nervous smile.

"Tara?" Paige whispered in disbelief as she stared at the dark version of her daughter standing before her before looking at her daughter sitting beside her. Glancing back and forth between the two Taras, Paige wasn't sure what to think as she turned back to her daughter beside her.

"What's going on?" Tara asked, looking at her aunts with fear in her blue eyes as she stared at the darker version of herself.

"Something is going on in the future. Your future self has returned to help us prevent the issue," Piper announced, giving her niece an understanding look. She knew Tara was afraid of becoming evil, and now an evil version of herself stood before her.

"What?" Paige replied, frowning at her sister and her daughter from the future.

"I need your help," Future Tara clarified, giving them a sheepish look. "I got into some trouble and I want to make sure it doesn't happen to you."

"What kind of trouble?" Tara wondered, frowning at her counterpart.

"I got involved with someone I shouldn't have. She convinced me to do somethings I'm not proud of, including things that I never believed I would do," Future Tara explained, giving Tara a knowing look as she explained and watching the blonde's eyes widen in fear.

"My dreams," Tara whispered, realizing what her future self was talking about. "Willow."

"The dreams were warnings to keep you from repeating my mistakes. I ignored them for a while after she become good again. I made the mistake to trust her. I made the mistake to trust that she truly loved me," Future Tara told her, frowning at the memory.

"W-Wi-Willow l-lied?" Tara asked, fear filling her at the thought.

"Willow?" Future Tara said, confusion in her voice as she stared at Tara.

Piper, Phoebe, and Paige stared at the future and present versions of Tara in confusion before Phoebe decided she wanted a better explanation then the confusing explanation they had just received. "Anyone want to clue the rest of us in onto what Willow has to do with this?"

"M-my d-dreams. W-Willow w-was in them," Tara explained, looking at her mother and then over at her aunts. "S-she w-walked over to m-me after I t-tricked M-Mom into opening t-the a-attic door. W-we killed e-everyone t-t-together."

"Look, I don't know why Willow was in your premonitions, but she's not the person from the future that I'm talking about. Willow's dead in my future, Tara. Willow was killed by the same person I trusted. She killed Willow to get to me."

"W-what?" Tara whispered, pain filling her at the thought of Willow's death.

"She wanted me to believe someone else killed Willow, but it was her. She killed Willow so she could win me over when I was upset. She used me to destroy our family. She used Willow's death as a way to win my trust."

"W-W-Willow's d-d-dead?"

"She's not dead yet, Tara. We'll keep her safe. You know we will," Phoebe promised, walking over to wrap her arm around Tara's neck.

"W-who is she?" Tara asked, staring at the dark version of herself. "Who lied to you?"

"I can't tell you that. I can only try to keep you from making the same mistakes I did. I have to be careful what I tell you now because it can change the future and make it ever worse then it was," Future Tara said, staring at her counter part.

"If I don't know who it is I can't trust, how will I know not to trust her?" Tara countered, frowning at the woman before her.

"Because if I tell you who she is, she might use a different disguise and trick someone else in your family. She might trick Melinda into trusting her, or even Henry," Future Tara explained, fear filling her dark eyes as she stared at her mother and aunts before turning to look back at her younger self.

"What can I do?" Tara wondered as she stared at her future. "How can I stop her if I don't know who she is?"

"Trust Willow and our family. Mom and Dad both told me not to let her in, but I didn't listen. I didn't believe them," Future Tara told her, looking down in shame. "I should have listened."

"Did you kill them?" Tara asked, unable to stop the question from leaving her lips.

"Yes," Future Tara whispered, avoiding eye contact with everyone in the room. "I've regretted it since it happened. It destroyed me looking at them like that and knowing that I was the one who did that to them."

"How could you...how could I do something like that?" Tara snapped, frowning at her counterpart in anger.

"The darkness clouds the mind. Makes it easier to give in and do things you normally wouldn't do. It blocks the emotions that should be there. Blocks the guilt and the love. Every moment that you've ever been angry with our family. Every second you've ever felt resentment towards them for even the slightest thing. It all comes back to you at once and blocks everything out."

"Why did you become a dark witch? Why would you give into that? I would never do something like that," Tara challenged, frowning at her.

"I had given up on hope that good could win anything," Future Tara explained, staring at Tara for a few seconds. "I stopped believing in the power of three."

A/N: Thank you Gimpy72 for all the help with this and all my other stories.