I am so sorry for the big delay you guys! I took some time out to study for my exams and I had barely started this chapter before that, so I had a lot to do after I had done all my exams. Anyway, I hope you all enjoy the chapter (Although by reviews, it would seem only one person is reading.). And don't forget to review! I really want your thoughts on these final chapters, and review replies will be posted on my website, the link to which can be found in my profile!
Euphoria
Piper hummed sweetly as she spread butter over a piece of wholemeal bread, before placing it on the top of the sandwich she had now finished making. The morning sun was pouring through the kitchen window of the Manor, illuminating her in an angelic glow as she pressed her hand down lightly on the sandwich. She continued to hum as she reached for the foil wrap, only stopping briefly when a strand of her hair came loose from the tight bun it had been wrapped into, forcing her to tuck it behind her. She made a mental note to fix it later. It was untidy to leave it like that, but then again, it would be very unhygienic to start playing with her hair as she prepared food.
The sounds of nearing footsteps reached Piper's ears as she began to fill the sink with water, resuming her humming, "Hun, have you seen my keys?" Dan asked as he entered the kitchen, padding himself down and looking wildly around the room as his wife to calmly run water, "I'm going to end up being late, and I hate being late when I'm showing a blueprint to a client for the first time…"
"They're on the foyer table, sweetheart." Piper called sweetly, rolling her eyes with an elated smile. He always left his keys on the foyer table, and he always forgot that that was where he had put them. After eleven years of marriage, Piper had noticed that Dan had developed a traceable pattern on where he left his keys. For her, it was just a matter of knowing what day it was.
"Got them!" Her husband shouted to her from his new location in the foyer, "See you later, honey!" She could hear the frenzied footsteps of her daughter bolting down the stairs in fear of her father leaving without her. After all, it was very rare for Dan to have the time to drive his daughter to school, and Katie didn't want to miss it.
The woman's eyes suddenly widened with shock as she spun around; her hair flying out of the bun and exploding outwards like a beautiful firework, sweeping down onto her back and glimmering in the sunlight, "Wait! Don't forget your-!" The front door slammed shut, silence instantly filling the Manor, "Lunches…" She looked to the two brown paper bags on the counter mournfully before taking a deep breath, plastering another disconcerting smile onto her face and swiftly picking up the two bags to put them into the fridge, returning to humming a song she had never known, and was never meant to have known of.
Phoebe stormed through the large expanse that was the penthouse's large living room, heading for the pair of wide open French doors that led to a beautiful view of the Bay. She hurriedly tied her silk robe together, glaring at the newspaper that acted as a barrier between her and her husband as he sat at the outside table. "I want that maid fired." She demanded, her hands gripping the back of a chair tightly, "She's repulsive. I woke this morning to her polishing my nightstand, and I thought the mole on her moustache was going to attack me." She wrenched the chair out from under the table and sat down with a pouted lip, "Well?"
"Baby, I'm not going to fire the help because they're unattractive." Jason told her absentmindedly, barely acknowledging her presence, "Besides, you're in no position to tell me what to do, seeing as how I'm paying for your car repairs yet again. Do you even have a driver's license? Or do you just swing the wheel around like a loon and hope the best?"
"I'm just the not best city driver, that's all." She replied loftily, pouring herself a cup of much needed coffee as she did so.
"That's what the chauffeur is for." Jason replied condescendingly, going back to his paper and making his wife sneer in contempt.
"Reading the paper that you own? That's a little narcissistic, don't you think?" She said acidly, taking a fresh muffin from the basket that was always lying on the table in the morning. She was never up early enough to see who actually put the basket there, and she didn't really care.
"It's called keeping an eye on my investment." He snapped back, taking out a sheet and putting it down on the table in front of her, not even looking up once again, "There, read the 'Karen Cares' advice column quickly so I look at the Business section."
Phoebe looked down at the part of the paper, despair etched onto her face as she picked at the muffin, instantly losing her appetite. "I haven't read that column in ages. The woman's been losing her edge gradually for years now and it's sad to read." She stated, sliding the paper back towards her husband, "I told you her writing lacks emotional depth and her one dimensional answers are a clear sign of her just wanting to get through the work and not help people. Do you not remember me telling you that?"
"If you only got that Psychology degree to berate me during breakfast, then that tuition was a waste of money." He replied edgily, finally listening to her and putting down the paper after folding it in half, "I'm not going to be in tonight. I've got a few late meetings, then a meet and greet with some prospective business partners." He raised an eyebrow, trying to catch her attention as she picked at the muffin, "Phoebe?"
"Alright…" She replied meekly, barely feeling his hand brush across her shoulder as he got up and left. If she had learned anything from her degree, it was that people always had a tell when they were lying. Jason's was to try and maintain eye contact all the way through, probably from hearing that lack of eye contact was a sign of lying. Phoebe found it ironic that the only time he remotely looked at her was when he lied to her. The times when he'd stare right into her eyes and poison the air with lies, while reeking of another woman's perfume were the worst, but she'd just accept it and go along with it.
She just didn't care anymore.
Paige had always hated this part of owning a sports store. The part where she had to get her hands dirty.
A loud curse word flew from her mouth as the oily bike chain slipped from her greasy hand once more, just as she had almost got it back on the teeth. She wiped her brow, getting oil on her forehead and not even realizing. She was glad of the large delivery door that was at the back of the store, as it let in the strong sea breeze that was their prize for having a store down at the Embarcadero, and helped to keep her cool in the run up to summer, where the temperature would rise harshly all of a sudden and not give her body time to adjust. It was a miracle that, given the amount of traveling Paige did, her body was able to settle in one climate.
The bell that hung over the entrance at the front of the door rang out, causing Paige to curse under her breath once more, "Be with you in a minute, Sir! … Or Ma'am!"
"It's only me!"
"Thank God!" Paige shouted back, glad to hear her husband's voice as he walked into the storage room, "I can't get this damn chain back on and the guy is coming to pick the bike up in ten minutes. I can fix brakes, change handlebar, fit pegs… I can completely build a bike from scratch until I get to this thing!"
Glenn chuckled slightly, throwing her a towel to wipe the oil away from her hands, "It's okay, I'll get it. You have a look at these photos. I'm not sure if the camera worked alright after we took it in the water." He said with a slight cringe, placing the white plastic bag onto the counter and kneeling to down to finish the job.
"Well, I did tell you just to use one of those underwater disposable ones." Paige replied, opening up the envelope and taking out the pile of photographs. She was well aware that she could have these forever kept on a computer, but Paige loved to have photos like this, much to the chagrin of Glenn, who usually had to go and collect them once they were developed. "Well, the Great Barrier Reef pictures are fine, so I'm guessing the camera still worked afterwards…" A beaming smile burst across her face as she saw another photograph, "Aw! Look at this one of Lila in front of Ayers Rock at sunset. She looks so cute with her sunglasses."
"I still can't believe we made round the whole of Australia in two weeks," Glenn remarked, slipping the chain onto the teeth with ease and spinning the pedal around to make sure it worked properly. "For a minute there, I thought we wouldn't make the return flight."
"Oh, come on, we've been in worse jams than that." Paige scoffed, "Do you remember the time we got stuck in Italy because we lost our passports? Now that was a time I thought we were really screwed." She set down the photos on the surface behind her as Glenn stood up to face her, "Oh, and almost forget. The box of new kneepads came while you were away. I still need to put them out on display. I was gonna do it right after I finished with the bike but you can see how that turned out."
"It's okay. I'll take care of it." Glenn replied with a boundless smile, "You go home and take a shower or something. You really make a mess when you play around with bikes." He said with a smirk, before walking back towards the front of the store, flipping the car keys in her direction as he went, "I'll make sure that the guy knows you worked like hell on his bike."
"Okay," Paige called back as she headed towards the parking lot that lay behind the store, catching her reflection in the glass of the exit door and seeing that she was covered in oil. Her mouth stood agape for a few seconds, before she just smiled and walking out into the blazing heat, her skin sun kissed from all the traveling she had done. A little oil was never going to get her down, especially on a day like this.
It was just too perfect.
The rising water shot through the sunlight pouring in through the broken window of the Great Hall, casting shimmering bands of light through the water and onto the shadow beneath as Pamela and Aidan appeared in the ruins of the hall, their forms quickly taking shape before the water fell away, revealing them. Immediately, Pamela's eyes went wide at what lay around her, relaxing when she saw they were alone, "You know, you could have splashed into a classroom down the corridor or something. Suddenly appearing in the enemy's main hang out is never a good safety preserver."
"Your argument would have grounds if we had been killed by now." Aidan replied dryly, looking around the remains of the giant hall as the morning run flooded it with light, giving the ruins a certain beauty. "Besides, if they're not here, they must have something to do with the girls' disappearance."
"But where would they go?" Pamela thought out loud, "I mean, they're the enemy of both good and evil, it's just that good is the only side actually doing something about the threat of impending doom… Well, I say good, when really, it's just the seven of us." She folded her arms, looking up to a large hole in the ceiling and seeing a perfect blue sky, as it was always in this realm, "Is it possible that they just went out on an early morning demon hunt and didn't tell you guys?"
"No, Paige is always the one to get the kids ready in the morning because of my hours, and since I was woken up to find the disaster that was my children trying to make their own breakfast, I don't think this is just a simple matter of them going out and losing track of time. Especially since Diam and Tyola got hold of the Angel's Whisper…"
"Oh, what, you think something that's powered by hopes and dreams vaporized three of the most powerful forces of good on the planet?"
"Well, I didn't until now."
Pamela rolled her eyes, "Come on, despite it being a superpower, I think its ability is probably a little more passive than that." She was quick to notice the pained expression on her uncle's face and instantly addressed it, "Okay, what's with the guilty look? What do you know?"
"Nothing, and that's what frustrating me." He shook his head angrily, biting his lip, "I mean, she was taken from her bed, right next to me, and I didn't even wake up. Maybe if I had…"
"Don't do this to yourself." She cut him off immediately, "If anything, you should feel least guilty about all this. You work erratic hours, you need your sleep a lot more than Leo and Brennan, so if anyone should feel guilty for not waking up, it's those two slobs." She linked her arm with his and hit it lightly, "C'mon, they're not here. Let's go back to the Manor for some old fashioned scrying instead of randomly checking out places." With that, the two vanished in the same manner in which they had appeared, the water glistening in the sun before it dissipated completely.
Positive that the two had gone, Tyola crept out from behind the broken door of the Great Hall, having heard everything. She breathed a sigh of relief, the being's grey eyes flashing in panic for the briefest of moments. Her expression remained cautiously nervous as she gripped to the thick oak door, before bursting into a cloud of particles that flew out of the hall and high into the sky.
Where Tyola reappeared was a stark contrast with where she had come from, with only the dim glow of a light sphere that she had conjured herself a few hours ago. It had been a stroke of genius to use this cavern. Thanks to the importance of the Devil's Eye, the dome shaped marble had been hexed, charmed, and magicked to the point where the only way to get in was by physically finding the entrance behind the Source's throne. No magic could get in or out. They were completely safe here. "The elemental was at Magic School looking for them, I should have known they'd be on to us quickly."
Diam didn't respond. His eyes had gone completely white as he continued to use the Angel's Whisper that hung from his hand. The artifact was glowing fiercely, the faint, melodic thrum of an ancient song echoing through the cave as it worked its magic on the three unconscious witches below, each still in their sleeping attire. Three tendrils of white light stretched from the Angel's Whisper and went into the head of each Charmed One, moving across their foreheads like a bolt of electricity against the glass of a plasma ball. A thin layer of sweat covered Diam's face, before the strings of energy suddenly disappeared and his eyes turned back to normal, "Are you alright?" Tyola asked coldly as her partner doubled over with his hands on his knees.
"Yes, this process is just taking more out of me than I thought it would…" He breathed in response, wiping his forehead with his arm and taking a deep breath.
"The Angel's Whisper is powered by the limitless energy of the user's soul. You have no soul, so it's feeding right off your magic, which isn't nearly as eternal." Tyola explained, giving him a dark look as he leaned back on the podium that once held the counterpart of the artifact that was in his hands. "Don't you realize what you're doing? You're conjuring a world that not only links three minds, but only has fleeting thoughts as a foundation. You might as well have made this world from your own hands from the start. It's taking too much out of you, and you haven't even tricked one of them into saying the power relinquishment spell!"
"We have no way of extracting the magic of the Power of Three with them dead, so we can't kill them, the Devil's Eye is gone, and the Angel's Whisper cannot be destroyed." Diam replied fiercely, glaring at her, "Tricking them into giving up their powers is the only option left. Besides, the old Source did it and nearly succeeded, and we're twice as powerful as he was."
"Yes, but the world you're creating is around three times more powerful than the one he created, and he was also mortally injured by a lower level demon because he had been weakened so much." Tyola rebutted, an eyebrow raised, "Not to mention you're have to work to make sure their real memories don't come pouring through and spoil your plan… God, covering up a three lifetimes worth of memories and replacing them… You had better hope we're not found, because we'll be sitting ducks with the amount of power you're wasting."
"Enough…" He growled, raising the Angel's Whisper into the air again, "They get put into stasis every time I take a break, but I don't know for how long. I need to go back." With that, his eyes turned a milky white once more, energy pouring from the centre of the artifact and pouring into the downed Charmed Ones' heads once again, the ancient hymn beginning to play the moment the energy hit them.
Phoebe sauntered into the autoshop, humming a peaceful tune as she walked. She sighed angrily at what she saw. He was still working on her car. She was quickly made aware that she was being ogled at when the other mechanics were less than subtle in checking her out, outright stopping what they were doing to stare at her. She didn't mind through, it was the most attention she got from men. "Hey, grease monkey!" The woman shouted at the mechanic's back as he was bent over the engine of her car, "You said my car would be done by noon. It's nearly two and you're still goofing around. What the hell would you have done if I got here on time?"
Brennan rolled his eyes as he turned around to face Phoebe, towering over her far smaller form and staring at the outrageous pair of sunglasses she was wearing. He sighed angrily as he wiped his hands clean from oil, making sure that the dirty cloth brushed against her a few times he rolled it round his palms. "Mrs. Dean, your car was ready three hours ago. I was just using your delayed arrival to give it a second look. As soon as you've paid, you can go, alright?"
"Good. This place makes me sick." She responded acidly, storming after him as he led her towards the small room at the back of autoshop that doubled as the establishment's office. He opened the door for her, given her a saccharine smile as she passed him and took off her sunglasses, leaning against the desk with an eyebrow raised, "Alright, how much do I owe you?" She asked as the door closed.
Brennan gave her an amused grin, "Won't your husband just pay for it?"
Phoebe's eyes flashed with anger, before she too, broke out into a grin, "How was I this time? I thought I would lay on the mega bitch routine really thick."
"You were great, as always." Brennan responded, moving towards the woman, grasping her by the hips and sitting her on his desk, leaving oily handprints on her white skirt as he trailed them up her body to gently grasp her head as he kissed her neck softly, all the while she clung to the back of his sweaty hair, her eyes closed in ecstasy. She always loved the way he smelled. A mixture of oil and sweat. It was such a difference from the sterile environment she was used to, and a welcome change.
"I think he's starting to suspect something's going on…" Phoebe whispered, making Brennan stop immediately.
"He thinks you're cheating on him?"
"Maybe no, but he is wondering why my car is constantly in the shop." She replied with a small smirk, running her hands over his face and down his chest. "He's going out for a business thing tonight, so we have the place to ourselves. Chandra will be asleep, so-,"
"A business thing?" Brennan scoffed, rolling his eyes with contempt, "You mean he's going out to cheat on you again… Man, he's lucky he doesn't come down here to pay for these repairs in person." He growled lowly, "Why don't you just leave him and we can stop sneaking around? I'm kinda getting tired of having to hate you in public and only love you behind closed doors."
"Hey, people in glass houses…" Phoebe rightly pointed out, gesturing to their immediate situation, "And I can't leave. Chandra… He has the money to give her the best of everything in life, and I want that for her. And if we were to get divorced, I would probably never get to see my daughter again. He's a millionaire with an army of the best lawyers in the country and I'm the unemployed trophy wife. Who do you think custody would go to? No, trust me, its better this way."
"Alright… What time should I come over tonight?"
"A little after eight. He leaves before that, but it's just to be on the safe side. I'll send the staff home for the night, and Chandra will be asleep." She looked down at her now oily skirt, smiling as she wrapped her jacket around herself more so the stains wouldn't be visible when she went outside. "You're I'm wearing this." She said with a smirk.
"I'd rather you weren't wearing anything at all." He retorted with a smile that almost made her want to stay.
"Save it for later…" She breathed, gripping his hair with her hand once more as she crashed her lips against his, catching them in a chaste kiss before she slid off the desk, gently pushing him away and readjusting her hair as she left, making sure that her coat was completely wrapped around her.
Slow business days were both a blessing and a curse. On the good side, it would give Glenn and Paige a lot of time to themselves as a couple, and it would let them check stock and do inventory during the day without having to give up their nights to do it. On the bad side, it would mean a dip in profits, and intense boredom just from sitting at the register all day. The only sale they had made all day was to a redhead who had bought running shoes because she was interested in running the annual city marathon. Glenn ran in it every year, and had immediately classed their customer as a novice. She must have picked up the vibe of his opinion, as she was cold towards him for the rest of her visit, and only addressed Paige when making her purchase.
"Paige, can you call Andrew Trudeau and tell him that I finished restringing his tennis racket? And tell him if he's still hung up about that woman, he shouldn't take it out on his racket." Glenn called from the back of the shop, snapping Paige out of her daydream at the front desk.
"Yeah, sure!" She called back, pulling the computer keyboard towards her and typing in their customer's name, faltering slightly when it came to spelling the second half of it before her cellphone began to vibrate next to her. Frowning, she picked it up and flipped it open, rolling her eyes at what she saw. She had been getting these anonymous text messages recently, saying the same thing every time. They weren't doing any harm or scaring her, they were just annoying.
Glenn came out into the front of the shop and read over her shoulder, mimicking her frown with a confused smile, "Did you sign up for a rhyme a day or something?"
"Nah, it's just probably some advertisement." She said sourly, closing her phone and setting it down on the counter again, "Alright, heart broken Trudeau, here we come…"
"… So anyway, I'm still convinced that he didn't give me the right amount of change. I think I'm going to put a complaint into the manager the next time I'm in, because I go to a supermarket to buy groceries, not to be robbed." Prue finished indignantly, stirring the sugar into the teacup in front of her before passing it to her mother with a smile, "Piper, are you even listening to me?" She snapped, staring at her sister's back as she stared out of the front window.
"Ignore her; she's been like this all day." Patty answered with a roll of her eyes, bringing her tea to her lips while the television played as background noise, "I think you should just let Roger handle something like this. I mean, that's what husbands are for. They should stand up for their wife's honour."
"Maybe… I would kinda like to handle this myself. Besides, he's so busy with work these days that I wouldn't want to bother him. He's been working late every night for the past month, sometime he's even had to leave the office to go to the client!" Prue replied with annoyance, shaking her head at the whole situation. "Of course, that's left me in the house alone a lot, what with Pam going out to not find a job…"
"Is she still giving you trouble?"
"Yesterday, she tried to dye her hair blonde, but her natural colour's too dark for one of those DIY dye jobs to work, so it went this horrible shade of red. She looks like a lion. Although I don't even know if she's noticed with the amount of pot she's been smoking recently."
"You caught her in the act?"
"Smelled it when she walked in the door. I'm this close to throwing her out. She's nearly twenty two, and ever since she found me all those years ago, it's been trouble. Roger shouldn't have to put up with a child that isn't even his."
"Maybe Andy could talk to her."
"Sure, if you can pull him away from the police station… Are we boring you, Piper? You've been staring out that window for nearly ten minutes."
Piper's eyes narrowed as she gently moved the lace curtain out of her view, glaring at a small house across the street, "Doris Underwood invited that UPS man in over five minutes ago. What could she possibly be doing with a delivery man that takes more than five minutes?" She mused in a suspicious tone, causing Patty to shake her head disapprovingly at her daughter's comments.
"I thought I raised you girls not to gossip." She said curtly, glowering at Piper as she moved away from the window and sat down on the sofa. "Where are your manners? You don't spy on your neighbours."
Piper snorted with laughter, "I think you're talking to wrong sister about manners, Mom. I could get Phoebe on the phone if you want, seeing as how I'm the only one who has any remote contact with her."
"I'm not going to speak to that tramp as long as I live…" Prue growled, taking a sip of her own tea.
"Let's not get into this again, Prue." Piper groaned. It had been fourteen years since Phoebe had apparently fooled around with Roger. A straight answer from both participants had never been given, but Prue had chosen to stand by her fiancée and disown Phoebe. It hadn't been as immediate for the rest of the family, but eventually, with two of the bigger Halliwell personalities at a permanent disagreement, Phoebe had just slowly vanished from their lives. As silence fell on the room, they all tuned into the TV, where a mindless quiz show had been playing in the background of their conversation.
"What was the teaser line for the sequel to the popular supernatural film, "Enchanted"?"
"Wasn't it something to do with books and powers?" Patty piped up with a frown.
"Yeah." Prue replied, "It was 'From whence they came, return them now, vanish the book, vanish our powers."
Piper rolled her eyes, "You're both wrong. It was 'From whence they came, return them now, vanish the words, vanish our powers." She smiled triumphantly when the contestant echoed what she had said and got the question correct. All of a sudden, the smile vanished and was replaced by blank expression. Something inside her broke. Memories from another life began to rush into her head and she felt out of place almost immediately. She continued to process what was happening to her, before her jaw dropped in shock and she let out an angry sigh at what she had just done.
"Aw, crap!"
A ghostly glow emitted from Piper's body, slightly illuminating the dark cavern as a stream of white lights from her chest and into the jar that was standing atop the pedestal that used to house the Devil's Eye. Tyola opened up the jar as the powers flew towards it, flooding the small glass container with light before the lid snapped shut by itself. "Its actually working…" She said, surprised. For the first time since the plan's conception, she confidently smirked at the three unconscious bodies lying on the floor.
Diam remained catatonic, his eyes glowing fiercely as sweat covered his face. The Angel's Whisper was continuing to drain power from him, and he knew it. It was power he would never get back, and it was a power loss that would probably kill him, but it didn't matter. The Hollow would be free after this, and he would be reborn for his sacrifice. After all, it all came down to sacrifice in the end.
Piper cursed as she jiggled the doorknob of the door as it continued to restrict her access to the attic. "Come on!" She shouted, taking a few steps back and jerking her hands out towards the door, resulting in no effect whatsoever, "Damn it!" She cursed again, before rolling her eyes at the insanity of her situation. "I'll just have to Phoebe my way in…" She murmured to herself, looking down at her feet and cursing again when she saw she was wearing flimsy, flat soled shoes, rather than thick heeled boots that would obliterate the rickety lock.
"Piper, just what has gotten into-? Piper!" Prue yelped, her body flinching in fright when her younger sister suddenly threw her shoulder against the attic door, visibly wincing afterwards. She had never seen Piper display such violence in her entire life, and was even more confused when she saw her peering at the lock of the door, "What is the matter with you? What are you looking at?"
"A door." Piper responded dryly, grinning at the vicious crack that was now running across the wood around the doorknob. "Man, I must not know my own strength. One more should do it…" She muttered, completely ignoring her elder sister's ravings about her sudden violent turn and throwing herself at the door once again.
It flew open, sending Piper racing into the attic due to the momentum in which she had thrown herself at the door. A sudden pain suddenly shot up and down her left shoulder and arm, causing the witch to look down and guessing she had probably dislocated it. Being no stranger to the occasional popped joint, Piper was swift in her solution, shoving the bone back into place with other wince of pain, "There… That's better."
Now that her injury had been tended to, Piper was able to look around her new surroundings and was instantly winded by her own disappointment.
The attic was completely empty. So empty, in fact, that it seemed Piper's forced entry had kicked up the layer of dust on the floor, and was now easy to see with the sunlight streaming through the grimy windows that looked like they hadn't been washed in years. It seemed so big and cold, and instantly made the eldest Charmed One miss her real home, in all its messy glory. "Oh, no… No, no, no, no…" She murmured to herself as Prue came up behind her, still bemused at her sister's behaviour.
"Wow, look at all the space up here!" She gasped, "You should convert it into something, like an entire floor for guests, a massive closet-,"
"Or a massive pig sty like it's supposed to be." Piper interrupted, steamrolling over Prue's comments. "This isn't right…" She suddenly turned on her big sister, her eyes wide and tightly tied back hair now slightly askew, "Um… Prue, lemme ask you something. Did Grams… leave us anything? Like, a big book, or a chest full of weird occult stuff?" The Book of Shadows was really what she was after, but at this point, their trunk of disgusting and smelly ritual items seemed like it would be a Godsend.
Prue snorted at the question, folding her arms with a sneer, "Yeah, right, like that bitch left us anything other than severe self confidence issues, always criticizing… You'd think, being the toughest lawyer in town, she would have left a nice lump sum of money to help her granddaughters look after her sick daughter, but no, all she left us was this crappy house." Her features instantly softened as she finished her sentence, "No offence, you and Dan did a great job renovating it."
Piper hadn't really heard anything past the word 'bitch'. It shocked her to hear Prue talk about their grandmother in such a callous way, even if this wasn't her own world. It was even more shocking than thinking of her grandmother as some kind of hotshot lawyer, "Well, all that kickass had to go somewhere if we weren't demon fighting witches, I guess…" She thought, instantly thinking of her own situation. She looked down at her apparel and cringed. It was filled with lemon yellows, powder blues… She was even wearing a woolly sweater. The eldest Charmed One would give anything for a pair of her tan boots and a white business blouse in this moment.
"Can someone help me to the bathroom, please?"
Prue groaned loudly as Patty's voice floated up to them from the living room, "I don't know why you just don't put her in a home. You're not equipped to deal with a woman in a wheelchair."
"I don't put her in a home because she's our mother!" Piper suddenly blurted out, suddenly feeling protective for the feeble shadow of woman that represented her mother in this world, "You know what, never mind, I'm wasting my time here. Where does Phoebe live? And I swear…" She added as Prue opened her mouth, "If the next word out of your mouth is an insult to Phoebe, I will hit you."
"I don't know where she lives." Prue replied incredulously, as if it would be a crime if she did know, "Piper, seriously, what has gotten into you? First, you're breaking down doors, then you're protecting mom when most of the time you bitch about her, and now you want to hunt down our homewrecking tramp of a sister? What's going-?" She was cut off then Piper's fist connected with her faces, her eyes going cross eyed for a moment before she collapsed to the floor.
"Well, Fake Prue." Piper said, shaking her hand in air to try and numb the pain before she climbed over her, heading to the door, "Don't say I didn't warn you."
Pamela shook her head in annoyance as the crystals flared angrily once again, causing a pulse of energy to rip through her demonic prisoner and send him to the floor, twitching and having spasms from the electric current that had just run through his body. She never understood why demons would put up with such torture. The information they had was normally useless, and they would be killed by their superior for getting caught by a witch in the first place, so there was no point in holding out. A part of her thought they did it just to piss her off, "I'll ask you again, do you know where the Charmed Ones are?" He remained silent, curled up into a ball. Pamela bit her lip in frustration. These crystals were useless unless he talked, he just didn't know that.
"Look, dude, you're surrounded by truth crystals, which are surrounded by me and then, we'll soon be surrounded by a very worried Elder, not to mention a strung out elemental and witch who will no doubt be pissed off after searching the Underworld. If you tell me what I want to know, you can avoid being the target of all that rage."
"Fine!" He spat angrily, his teal coloured eyes glaring up at Pamela from his vantage point on the floor as he struggled to his feet, "A massive pulse of power passed through the Underworld hours ago, but it didn't stay for long. The Source sent demons after the aura trail it left behind, but…"
"The demons never came back?" Pamela finished, being validated with a nod, "Figures. But what do you mean 'passed through'? How can you pass through the Underworld? I mean, the only place that's deeper is…" A look of realization spread across her face, a rueful smile soon joining it, "Of course, the Deep Underworld… Thanks to its proximity to all the natural magic resonating from the earth's core, they're untraceable!" The witch through aloud, going over to the Book of Shadows. She began to flick through pages, but stopped just as she turned one, looking up at the demon and smiling at him, "Oh, I'm sorry, where are my manners? You've been a great help." Looking back down at the book, she casually threw out her hand, reducing the demon to pile of ash on the floor instantly, his scream echoing throughout the attic as Leo orbed in.
"Wow, you wouldn't know that you had that arm in a sling a few weeks ago." Leo said warmly, catching Pamela's smirk as she went back to looking through the book. "Did he give us anything?"
"Yeah, I think Diam and Tyola have taken them into the Deep Underworld, the only question is where." She replied, "The girls were the only ones that went down there, and they described it as hell to navigate… No pun intended, so we have no idea how to find them if we get that far, not to mention the whole place is teeming with Shadow Demons. It's like a fortress, it was a smart move."
"So, we're basically right back where we started?" Leo clarified sadly.
"Yeah… But brightside?" She closed the Book of Shadows over, tapping the silver triquetra and smiling when it let out a metallic clang against her fingernail, "If they were dead, this would have rusted away and turned into dust… Okay, maybe not, but something would have happened to this book if they were dead, so at least we know they're still alive. We're gonna get them back, we always do."
"That's the reassurance you're leaving me with?" He raised an eyebrow in her direction, only getting a shrug as a response.
"After fourteen years of stuff like this constantly happening and working out fine, it should be all you need."
A large surge of water sprouted from the cracks between the floorboards, slowly taking on the shape of two people whose appearance immediately set both Leo and Pamela on edge. Brennan was holding Aidan up by keeping the elemental's arm around his shoulders, while the injured man in question struggled to stand properly. There were scorch marks in their clothes, red blotches on their faces where their skin had blistered from burns, and both of them were covered in soot and dirt, "Watch out!" Brennan shouted, "They've probably come after us!"
"Who?"
Pamela suddenly felt a wave of heat erupt to her left as Aidan's eyes widened at what he saw on the other side of the attic, "Firestarters!" He breathed.
Three cloaked beings stood across them, their faces covered by the dark hoods on their heads with the only sign of life being the wisps of smoke flowing from the depths of the fabric. It seemed to be a miracle that the cloaks hadn't burst into flames, as their hands looked like they had been carved from fragile stone, and within the many cracks in the stone, scorching hot magma glowed an angry yellow like a warning to their enemies. Smoke began to pour from their bodies as they raised their arms, the only sound being the quiet sizzle of the cloaks' fabric. Silence.
Chaos descended almost immediately. A massive explosion suddenly detonated in the middle of the room, blowing every window out of its pane before the glass itself shattered into millions of pieces. The four of them were suddenly thrown back in different directions as tiny fireballs reigned down from the explosion like shooting stars, setting fire to everything they touched. The attic was reduced to the state of a burning building within seconds.
"Leo!" Pamela shouted, shaking the lapels of her uncle's jacket in an attempt to get him to wake up from unconsciousness and save them from the inferno. He slowly began to come to, immediately noticing the Firestarter standing over them and hitting it with a pulse of lightning which flew from his hand, engulfing the demon in electricity that run all the way through his body and momentarily shocked him, giving the two of them a chance to escape.
"We need Brennan and Aidan!" Leo bellowed over the roaring fire, "You need to try and hold them off while I heal them."
"Are you kidding me?" Pamela shrieked back, quickly summoning her telekinetic powers to draw some of the fire around the room towards her and into a condensed sphere in the palm of her hand. She threw her arm forward, the fireball smacking one of the Firestarters in the shoulder and sending him stumbling back, "They're resistant to everything and I think the air's become too hot to use my ice breath!"
"Then just keep doing what you just did and get rid of the fire! We need them!" With that, the Elder ran across the room, catching the attention of the two Firestarters that Pamela hadn't yet injured and was soon followed by the duo.
"Hey! Where do you think you're going?" The two beings turned back to the witch, deciding to go after her instead of Leo. Concentrating hard, she made most of the small fires that had erupted around the room leap from the thing they had set on fire and towards her hands. Her forearms began to blister from the heat coiling around them before she threw them out, a primal scream being ripped from the witch's lungs in the process as two jets of fires flew from her palms and ploughed into the two Firestarters, throwing them right across the room just from the sheer speed the flames had been traveling at.
"Damn, that hurt…" She breathed tiredly, looking down at her slightly burnt forearms. The good thing was that she had managed to get rid of most of the fire by using it as a weapon, and the attic was no longer in danger of burning down.
Leo's face had contorted into one of sheer determination as he willed his powers to work faster on Aidan. The Elder's face had gone red from the heat in the room, and he was now sweating from the mixture of heat and work going into healing. He looked up as a shadow blocked out his light, and wasn't able to move fast enough when the Firestarter suddenly clutched his throat with his volcanic hand and pulled him into the air.
The skin of his neck began to bubble and burn. He wanted to scream from the pain, but the life and air was being choked out of him. He couldn't even concentrate hard enough to orb out of the fiery being's hand. His vision was starting to cloud over from all the smoke; the pain had now disappeared, his burns worsening…
"Hey!" The Firestarter turned around at the voice, only to have a cloud of frigid ice blasted in his face. He immediately dropped Leo to the floor and let out an unearthly scream of agony as steam poured from his head. The stone hands suddenly began to slowly crumble away. The cloak, starting to lose the support of the body underneath, sagged in places before the entire being crumbled into a pile of hot dust on the floor, the black cloak now incinerated.
Pamela turned around just in time to see the two remaining Firestarters retreat in a wreath of angry flames, having suffered a casualty from their attack. "Leo, are you okay?"
"Fine…" Leo replied hoarsely, the self healing process having begun the moment he had been let go from the Firestarter's grip. He went back to healing Aidan, the superficial injuries beginning to fade. It was then he suddenly looked upwards, his eyes darting around the smoke damaged ceiling of the attic. He could have sworn…
"The Source must have found out they were sneaking around and sent his bodyguards after them. I thought Firestarters were meant to be human, but I guess an eternity as a demonic arsonist can change you…What is it?" Pamela replied wearily, finally noticing Leo's perplexed expression.
"It's… No, it's nothing."
"Leo!"
Piper smiled bashfully at the looks she received from passing pedestrians for hissing a name over and over again as she walked down the street. It probably didn't help matters that she was dressed like a Stepford wife while everyone around her was in suitable work apparel, all rushing to the parking lots, train stations, and bus stops to get home after an working late. Piper was usually among these people. She even recognized some of the more unique faces she would see on a daily basis by making this route, yet a part of her didn't recognize them. This part of her was even scared of this urban environment.
It was like two people were living inside of her. One was confident, successful, and a witch. The other was sheltered, attentive, and a housewife who had never seen the world. This Piper had never seen a highest reaches of the heavens, and the deepest abyss of the Underworld. This Piper had never fought bravely to be with the one she loved. This Piper had never saved the world. She had never been through the kind turmoil that would make you stronger if you overcome it.
Piper had come to accept this fact over the years, that being a witch had made her stronger. No longer did she pine for a 'normal' life. Her life was normal to her. She had seen things most people hoped weren't real; she had fought to the death, losing at times, but always coming back. And despite the confusion of having two lives in her head, she knew what one she would pick, even if it was a lie and this suburban boredom was real. She would choose to fight, every single time.
Finally reaching her destination at the bottom of the hill, she looked out onto the Bay, noticing that the sky had taken on a slight pink hue, the small clouds burning in the setting sun that blinded her and made the water sparkle. This whole world had a golden hue to it. Too perfect, too beautiful. Life wasn't like this. This really was a lie.
Turning around, her suspicions were confirmed at what she saw, "Oh, someone is definitely screwing with me…"
Above the large retail space, a perfectly cut slab of marble did not stand, nor did the golden letters that made up the word 'Thyme'. Instead, a giant, plastic, neon yellow 'M' stood arrogantly above the restaurant entrance, a plight to the scenery that was made up of quaint, port side restaurants, complete with a scarily realistic Ronald McDonald life-size figurine, advertising the latest meal to have 'Mc' added to the start of its name. "I need to get outta here."
She turned to stride down the street, when she noticed the headline on the sample paper that sat above the newspaper dispenser, "PHOEBE DEAN – THE LATEST IN DOOMED PARTY GIRLS?" Below it, the most unflattering picture Piper had ever seen of her sister had been blown up to nearly take up the entire front page of the trashy tabloid. It was clearly one of those pictures taken at the one weak spot most people in the public eye have, and Piper had to admit, her sister looked terrible. Finally being able to look past the picture, the eldest Halliwell sister saw the caption underneath, stating this picture had been taken while Phoebe was heading to her car outside her apartment building.
"Gotcha!"
"I have to admit, this isn't what I was expecting when you said I should come over."
Phoebe smiled as she poured wine into Brennan's glass, "Well, he's not going to be back until the morning, and this is about as public as we can get without getting caught. Besides, if he's going to hold stupid little affairs in sleazy motel rooms, I should be allowed to have something real in the comfort of my own home."
They sat at a small circular table on the penthouse's balcony, the white tablecloth billowing slightly in the soft breeze. The only things that stood on the table, however, were two glasses, and a bottle of wine, "I'm sorry about the lack of food, but I can't cook to save myself and I couldn't exactly ask the chef because she's on his payroll. I could probably make some scrambled eggs on toast if you're hungry."
Brennan laughed a little, taking a sip of his wine, "Its okay, I'm fine… Hey, why do you do that?"
"Do what?"
"You never call your husband by his name. Why is that? I mean, it's not as if you need to hide it from me, I've seen it plenty times on all the checks he's given me to fix your car." He responded with a smirk.
Phoebe shrugged slightly at the question, running her index finger around the edge of her glass and staring into her wine. "I dunno… I guess it's just easier to distance myself from him if I don't use his name. Don't get me wrong, I love you and don't regret what we're doing for a second, but a part of me still feels guilty. I mean, I am married to the guy." She looked up at him with a small smile, "And, you know, I do have a daughter to think about. You and she are the good things in my life."
"What about other family?"
Phoebe snorted at this question, "I have two big sisters, one has a niece that I've never met, and the other is an insecure bitch who would rather believe her cockroach of a husband over her own sister because she's afraid of being alone." She shook her head tiredly at his bemused expression, "Long story… Basically, she thought I had went after them, although it was the other way round, and my other sister was always closer to her, so she took her side as well. I haven't seen them since." The woman let out a small sigh as she lent back in her chair, her arms folded, "Okay, so enough about me. What about your family?"
Before Brennan could answer, there was a manic knocking at the door. Both of them jumped, startled at this sharp interruption, "Stay here." Phoebe said firmly, fully prepared for what might happen if it was Jason on the other side of the door.
She wasn't fully prepared for who really was there, however, as when she opened the door; she was shocked to see her worn out older sister staring back at her, breathing heavily, "Phoebe! Thank God! I think I managed to outrun those doormen in the lobby. Listen, we have a huge problem… And the fact that you're not greeting me at all means that you have no idea who I am." Piper sighed angrily, quickly letting her hair out of the tight bun is had been swept into.
"No, I know who you are, Piper. What do you want?" Phoebe replied acidly. She had no desire to speak to the sister that had abandoned her completely out of loyalty to another without a slightest amount of proof.
"Okay, I'm just gonna hit you with this." Piper said bluntly, placing one hand on the doorframe, "I? Am not the Piper you think I am, and you? Are not the Phoebe you think you are. We're witches, and someone is using magic to screw with our heads so they can trick us into getting our powers. They already succeeded with me, so that means I have to stop you from saying the spell and get you back to normal, then we have to do the same to Paige. Are you following me so far?"
Phoebe stared blankly at her face for a few moments before replying, "You're insane." She snarled, shaking her head in contempt. She didn't even know a Paige!
"Okay… I really didn't want to have to do this." Piper grimaced slightly, before raising her hand and forcefully slapping Phoebe in the face hard enough to make her recoil slightly. "Phoebe, are you in there?" She asked hopefully, staring into her sister's shocked eyes as she held her cheek.
"What the hell is the matter with you?" She shrieked, before seeing the elevator open behind Piper and reveal the two burly doormen that had been hired by the wealthy tenants of the building. "Perfect timing. Get this psycho outta here."
"No! Phoebe, wait-!" Piper was cut off by the door being slammed in her face as the doormen advanced on her. Phoebe walked back into the penthouse foyer, shaking her head with an angry sigh and massaging her jaw. Out of all the ways she had imagined seeing her family again, hearing Piper's ludicrous ramblings followed by a slap in the face was not what she had been expecting.
"Is everything okay?" Phoebe looked up to find Brennan standing nervously in the living area in front of her, looking slightly relieved at the fact she was still alone at the door.
Before she could answer, they were interrupted by the sound of small footsteps on the wooden floor. A pajama clad little girl of around four padded into the living room, rubbing her eyes with the back of her head and tiredly scratching her tousled brown hair. She stared up at Phoebe, revealing her giant, doe brown eyes, "Mommy, can you weed me a storwee? Can't sleep." She said wearily, sticking out her bottom lip and pouting, a known tactic of Chandra's when she wanted something.
"Sure, sweetie. I'll be there in just a sec, alright?" This answer satisfying her, Chandra turned around and slowly walked back down the hallway towards her bedroom, "I'm sorry." Phoebe said to her lover apologetically, giving him an anguished glance before walking down the hallway.
Piper lowered herself onto the cool front step of the building, well aware of the two doormen that were burning holes into her back with their glares. It seemed they were far too immersed in this world for the usual "Snap out of it!" tricks to work, and without her powers, Piper had no way to use any other method to convince her sister that she was telling the truth. She had no idea where Paige was, or if she was even part of this with them. Maybe she had already gotten out, maybe she had never gotten in, or maybe she was on the other side of this fake world completely oblivious to this lie. No powers, no sisters… Piper had never felt more helpless in her life, "C'mon, girls. I kinda need you here…" She whispered to herself, lowering her head to rest on her arms.
"Well, you have one of us."
Piper's head shot up and turned around to see Phoebe standing next to her, holding a bunch of papers in her hand, "I just read aloud a story to my fake daughter about a princess who couldn't be with the prince until she got rid of her strange powers. Guess how she did that." The middle Charmed One said sourly, shaking her head and sitting down next to her sister.
"Is it really you?"
"Well, I should hope so. I don't wanna think of this being my real life. And if it is… Well, I'd rather go back to the dream, wouldn't you?" She said with a wry smile, before noticing that Piper was frowning at the ground with a pensive expression on her face, "What is it? What have you figured out?"
"A dream…" Piper repeated a soft tone, "The Angel's Whisper. It gains its power from the hopes and dreams of good people. What if that's what's happening? What if Diam and Tyola are using it to somehow twist our dreams together and make this fake world? If would certainly fit with what the Angel's Whisper is capable of in the wrong hands."
"But we never wanted any of this. Being a trophy wife in a loveless, adulterous marriage and…" Phoebe took a quick glance at her sister, "Being a… Martha Stewart groupie?"
"Close, but no." Piper responded dryly. "No, it makes perfect sense. Diam doesn't how to control the Angel's Whisper properly, so he's probably latched on to some tiny, fleeting thought or wish in our heads and has used it to make this world. But the thing is, that's all they are. Tiny and fleeting. Not nearly enough to build a stable and convincing world. I mean, in this world, our family wasn't a line of powerful witches, yet we still have the Manor which was built purely for a reason that only witches know. It's completely nonsensical, this isn't what I wanted. Not in a thousand years."
"What did you want?"
"To be with Leo." She replied, "And our kids. Just… taking each day as it comes, not having to worry if I or any of my family are gonna be alive next week. Free to be who we are. What about you?"
"Little things." Phoebe answered immediately, "And the big stuff too obviously, like being with Brennan and the kids, but… stuff like teaching Faith how to ride a horse, watching Brennan and Connor mess around with a baseball in front of the house while I sit on the porch. Not locked away on the top floor of an apartment building like a prisoner."
"Um… Phoebe?" Piper began in a kind tone, "You don't own a horse, and your house doesn't have a porch. What are you talking about?"
Phoebe took in a deep breath, "Well, I guess now is as good a time as any to tell you…" She looked up at her sister, "After this is all over… I'm moving away from the city, to Brennan's mom's old place up in Wisconsin."
"Hmm… I know."
"What?"
"Brennan told me last week." Piper confessed, smirking at her sister's expression, "He kinda figured that you would never pluck up the courage to tell me, so he did it himself."
"That son of a… I'm gonna kill him. That information should have come from me."
"Fair enough, but it doesn't change the fact that you want to go." She immediately looked guilty as Piper spoke, "But I want all that for you too. None of us should be tied down to this witch thing anymore. It's just too all-consuming and these days the costs far outweigh the benefits. Especially with losing that innocent a few weeks ago… But we can't stop, not until the Hollow's gone, and so are Diam and Tyola. So, we need to get out of here… but, we need find Paige first."
"Ah, I may have a solution there!" Phoebe said triumphantly, grabbing the papers she had put down at her side and bringing them onto her lap, "Thanks to this little mind meld thing we have with our fake selves, I know that Trophy Phoebe likes to snoop around Jason's office, and one day, she found this." She handed the first few pages over to Piper, who took a quick glance at them, "They're legal documents sorting out a settlement to be paid to Glenn and Paige Belland. Apparently, Jason wants to buy them out, knock down most of the stores in the area and turn it into a mall. Paige is the last hold out."
"And we have an address of the store." Piper added, quickly looking at her watch, "Eight thirty. Stores are usually still open at this time on a weekday, right?"
"Piper, we're in a fake dream world that is based entirely on seemingly unimportant thoughts and wishes, all of which has been orchestrated by our magical enemies." Phoebe arched an eyebrow, "Do you really think we can apply logical thought to any of this?"
"Good point!" Piper boomed energetically, getting up from the step with her eyes still down at the address on the paper, "C'mon, we only have until midnight."
"Why midnight?"
Piper cast her gaze up to her sister, looking at her as if she was insane, "Because it's always midnight."
"Give it up."
Diam glared up at Tyola as she held her hand out to help him up from the floor. He clamped his sweaty palm in hers and let her unnatural strength easily pull him to his feet. His head was pounding; he was starting to get dizzy. The being had to hold on to the empty podium just to maintain his balance. "No." He responded flatly, "We've already go two of the sisters to say the spell. All we need is for Paige to say it and we'll have succeeded. I've come too far now to throw his opportunity away."
"Oh, sure. Hold on to this opportunity and throw your life away in the process." She responded sarcastically, looking down at the three witches below her and resisting the urge to destroy them. Nevertheless, if she did that, they would have nothing, and there was no telling when another power as strong as the Power of Three would arise, "Are you absolutely sure this is the only way to get their joint power?"
"Yes." Was his firm answer. He turned back to the trio of unconscious witches on the floor and raised the Angel's Whisper up into the air once more, white light slithering from the centre and now going straight into Paige's head, the illusion having been broken for the other two sisters and the entire dream world now being sustained within the youngest Charmed One, "Two down, one to go…"
"Well, it looks open…" Phoebe murmured to her older sister as they peered into the front window of the store, pretending to look at the mountain bike that was in the display in front of them. Her eyes instantly widened when she noticed Paige standing at the counter, locking up the register and heading towards the front door, "Look! There she is!" She hissed.
"Yeah, but… is she leaving?" Piper asked in a panic. Sure enough, their baby sister was soon on the sidewalk with them, locking up the front door of the store.
Paige finally looked up and jumped in fright at the two women standing at the front of her store. "Um… Did you ladies want something or are you just window shopping?"
The elder Charmed duo stood frozen, until Phoebe came up with a plan, "Uh… Yes!" She boomed brightly, stepping forward with a large smile, "See, the thing is, it's my husband's birthday tomorrow and I've simply wracking my brain for weeks trying to figure out what to get him. But, typical me, I did too much thinking and not nearly enough shopping. He's really into stuff like extreme sports, so I was wondering if you could open up for maybe fifteen minutes and let me try and find something?"
Paige sighed. She really wanted to go home, but it had been a slow business day and the money certainly wouldn't hurt, "Alright… Come on in." She groaned, unlocking the door and walking back into the store with her would be sisters in tow. "Do I know you from somewhere?" She suddenly asked, turning back to Phoebe.
A spark of hope was ignited at this, could the spell be starting to break? "Maybe." The middle Charmed One replied cryptically.
"You doing more thinking than shopping?" Piper whispered, "We are in a dream world."
"Oh, shut up!"
After ten minutes of hushed brainstorming and wandering around the store, Piper and Phoebe were still none the wiser on how to make the real Paige resurface. It seemed physical violence didn't work, and seeing her sisters she only knew in her real life hadn't done anything to her. The only thing they could think of was kidnapping Paige until they figured out a plan to remedy her mind, but things could get dangerously messy if that were to happen.
Paige's cellphone suddenly went off in her purse as she stood at the counter, causing her to roll her eyes. She expected it to be a message from Glenn, asking why she wasn't home yet. Instead, it was the same odd message she had been getting all day, "Hey, I'm sorry to bother you guys, but can I ask you something?"
Piper and Phoebe exchanged a glance before answering, "Uh… Yeah, sure."
"Well, I've been getting these weird text messages all day, and I don't know they mean, so maybe you can help me out." She raised her phone so she could read aloud from the scene, "From whence they came, return them now, banish the words, banish our-,"
"It's a chain message!" Piper suddenly blurted out, sighing with relief when Paige stopped saying the spell, "Yeah, you just need to forward it to five people then completely delete it from your cell. I get them all the time. In fact, I did that one last week."
"Oh, it's one of those things!" Paige gasped, a smile appearing on her face as she immediately deleted the message, "Thanks. Just for that, I'll let you have a little more time to look around." She smiled kindly at the pair and turned to head into the back of the store before suddenly stopping, "Wait a minute…" She faced Phoebe, glaring, "I know where I know you from. You're Jason Dean's wife!" She growled, advancing on the two of them, "What did he do? Send you here to find some building code violation so we would get shut down and he could buy us out?"
"No, I-,"
"Get out."
"What?"
"Get out!"
"Well, that could have gone better." Piper lamented sourly, leaning back on the sidewalk bench that was across the street from Paige's store. Even this fading sunlight didn't feel the same on her face as real sunlight. Piper could only speculate that now she and her sister had been disillusioned, the stability of their joint dream world was becoming weaker and therefore less real.
"We need to use magic." Phoebe said, shaking her head, "I don't how we're going to do it, but it's our only way to snap her out of this."
Piper suddenly sat back up properly, her eyes wide, "There might actually be a way."
"How?"
"Well, think about it." She began, "The main issue with our powers has always been that they're all connected. And since the main objective of this world was to make us say the relinquishment spell, we can assume we still had our powers in some form in this world, otherwise the spell wouldn't work because there are no powers to relinquish. You following so far?"
"Barely."
"So, if we're all connected, that means we can tap into Paige's powers even we don't have our own." She calmed down considerably after this, leaning back on the bench once again, "We just have to concentrate and draw her power out, and we need to do it before she finishes ranting to the fake Glenn down her cellphone otherwise she'll drive off and we won't find her."
"Okay, so we have a plan!" Phoebe said brightly, nodding her head, "Although… one witch's magic isn't enough to snap her out of it, and it'll be even weaker after being channeled through us, so what do we do when we get her power?"
"We summon someone who does have the power to snap her out of it."
Pamela slowly closed over the Book of Shadows, surveying the silent sad faces around her as she did so, "I don't know what to do." She admitted meekly, "Short of going down to the Deep Underworld and turning over every rock to find them, I don't see what else we can do." She let her arms rest on her lap, staring down at the silver triquetra. It still remained the same, which meant they were still alive, and for now, no news was good news.
"Maybe they'll get themselves out of it." Brennan suggested optimistically, dropping the fire damaged pillow he had been clinging to and throwing it to the side, "I mean, they're the Charmed Ones after all. If anyone is capable of saving themselves, it's them."
"Definitely." Leo added with a small smile, "Besides, Piper wouldn't die without this attic being clean, and having a nova blow up in the middle of room sure as hell made things messy." He said with a low chuckle, looking around the many scorch marks that now covered the attic, "And, well… this isn't how it ends. Their destiny is epic; it would be only be fitting that their end is too. And this… it's anything but important. Just to go missing… No."
Pamela nodded solemnly, before noticing that Aidan hadn't said anything, and had the nerve to be slouching on one of the sofas, his head falling backwards over the back of the couch, "Hey! Lazy boy! Your wife is missing; wanna join us in our misery here?" She snapped, throwing her pen at him. "Wake up!" She got no reaction from him, "Aidan!" Wary glances were exchanged between as they all rose to their feet to surround the elemental.
"Aidan?" Brennan frowned, clicking his fingers in front of the other man's face before lightly tapping him on the forehead, making the rest of his head completely lull back.
"If you're doing this to make us laugh, then it's not working. This isn't funny!" Pamela argued, slapping him gently in the face a few times, before hitting him properly with more force. Still no reaction. "What's going on?"
"Woah…"
Piper and Phoebe jerked in their seats and spun around to find Aidan standing behind the bench they were sitting on. "It worked." Phoebe said breathlessly, looking up at her brother in law's face and smiling. "I don't think I have ever been this happy to see you, Aidan."
"Thank God!" Piper boomed, leaning back on the bench and covering her face with her hands, letting out a wail into her palms before taking them down from her face and also smiling at Aidan. Her happiness was momentarily smothered when she saw that his clothes were covered in burn marks and it looked like he had been sweeping chimneys all day, "What happened to you?"
"Firestarters, your attic looks like a war zone, but never mind that." Aidan replied casually, shaking his head in an annoyed fashion while Piper remained in shock at his statement, "Where are we? We've been looking for you guys all day. The only comfort we've had is that the triquetra on the front of the book was still fine."
"Dream world, made out of our own wishes and twisted against us in an attempt to make us give up our powers by Diam and Tyola." Phoebe explained, "But we just used what little power we have to get you here, so enough the questions and just listen."
"Okay… why did you summon me then?"
Piper and Phoebe looked at one another before giving him a sickly smile, "You see, here's the thing." Piper began, walking towards him, "We need to make Paige snap out of the spell, because right now, she has no memory of her real life, and she's susceptible to saying the relinquishment spell without even realizing it. Now, we snapped out of it when we said the spell, because saying a spell is a pretty big link to our real lives and it sparked something in our memories-,"
"Basically, we're asking you to be Paige's pretty big link to her real life." Phoebe said flatly, earning a glare from her older sister for cutting her off, "What? You were taking too long and we're kinda on the clock." She turned back to Aidan, "All you need to do is go up to her and kiss her… We hope."
"Although it might not work straight away and she may Mace you, or slap you… Basically try to kill you actually." Piper added, trailing off quietly as she had progressed through the sentence. "Once the spell's broken, the dream world should collapse, and we'll all wake up."
"Okay. Where is she?"
They heard the slam of a door across the street. Phoebe turned around, putting her hand up to shield her eyes from the sun, which had nearly completely set below the horizon. Paige was locking up the store once again, thankfully keeping her head down to avoid being blinded by the sun as she walked towards her car. "Over there." Phoebe said robotically, raising her arm and pointing. "Go for it!"
Complying to his relative's request, Aidan jogged towards his wife, leaving Piper and Phoebe to stand on the sidewalk and watch as he caught up to her. The eldest Charmed One heaved a large sigh as Paige stopped to talk to the man who was running towards her. "I hope to God this works." She saw Aidan lean in, before everything went white.
An explosion of white hot light illuminated the antechamber, blinding Diam and Tyola, who had been used to dim lighting all day. Both of them raised their arms to shield themselves before Diam screamed and was thrown back from his position over the three girls, crashing through the podium and cracking the marble wall he collided with. The Angel's Whisper flew from his hand and skidded across the floor like a flare, emitting nothing but pure divine energy before the light suddenly died out, leaving them in the darkness once again.
"Diam!" Tyola scrambled across the room to her downed ally. From what she could see, he was barely breathing. He had used almost all of his energy from projecting into the Charmed Ones' minds, but that final blast of backfired energy had nearly killed him. It was all the magic he had put into the artifact over the entire day, and it had been turned on him.
Piper suddenly shot up into a seated position, looking around her location with wide, confused eyes, "Are we back?"
Paige groaned as she rubbed her head, before noticing that she was in her pajamas, "Well, if we're not, then this is a really weird dream…" She mused.
"Something tells me things are back to being very real!" Phoebe said urgently, springing to her feet the moment she saw Diam and Tyola at the other end of the room within the wreckage of the podium and the marble wall. "What's the matter, Diam? You don't seem as formidable as usual. Something wrong?"
Paige smirked when she noticed the Angel's Whisper on the floor, still giving off a pale glow. She picked it up by its hanger and looked into the portal that lay within it. "Well, Phoebe, using this darling little contraption when you're a soulless monster can take it out of you." She said smugly, "Piper, I'm guessing that since he can't get up, and since I didn't finish the relinquishment spell, you still have the power to blow his weakened ass to smithereens."
"Great suggestion!" Piper boomed back, raising her hands and preparing to attack
"No!" Tyola bellowed, bending down to cover Diam's body before bursting into a swirl of particles that flew up into the air, vanishing into the marble dome above them and barely escaping Piper's attack, which went on to cause an explosion in the place they had inhabited, doing no damage.
"Damnit…" The eldest Charmed One growled, putting her hands on her hips and blowing air out of her nose like a dragon snorting smoke, "Well, I dunno about you girls, but I'm tired."
"Me too." Chirped Phoebe, who let her head rest on Piper's shoulder.
"Me three." Paige added, frowning slightly, "Which… is kinda weird, seeing as how we've been unconscious for nearly fifteen hours."
Paige was snapped out of her daze by the cutting honk of the car behind. She blinked a few times, before realizing that the light had turned green. Shooting an apologetic gesture in the rear view mirror, she drove off, barely being able to stay awake. The witchlighter's mind was weighed down with thoughts on the events of the day, and how, in a way, she had lived a woman's entire lifetime in just this one day.
It terrified her. Paige could remember things that had never happened to her; and a part of her felt like she had killed the woman that she had been for a day, despite it being nothing but an incredibly vivid dream. What had given her the right to completely destroy this other person, all in the name of getting back to a fight that could very possibly kill her soon anyway? She knew that she didn't have to feel this way. This person had never properly existed. It's just that her lifestyle had been so tempting.
Paige's fake life hadn't been like Piper and Phoebe's. When the spell broke on them, they could immediately see that the dream wasn't what they wanted, with both of their lives being so starkly different, but it wasn't as clear cut for Paige. In her fake world, she was happily married; she had a perfect job, and a beautiful child. It was basically her current life without the constant sorrow magic brought, and as she turned into her driveway, she realized that part of her resented her sisters for breaking the spell and destroying her blissful ignorance.
She entered the house tiredly, dropping her purse at the door. She had stayed on at Piper's with her sisters, crafting a potion that would cause fatal damage to the mortally wounded Diam, and would also hurt Tyola. Adam and Eve had come and retrieved the Angel's Whisper, telling them that it was now they had to work now more than ever. If the time was now, what had they been doing all these years?
She laughed softly when she saw Aidan sprawled out on the couch, still in the same burnt clothes he had been in all day. He had fallen asleep with his glasses on again, a frequent occurrence since they had become a permanent fixture on his face. He was sleeping on his side, so he would end up with a long, thin indent on the side of his head if she didn't intervene and take them off. She knelt down and did just that, accidentally rousing him from his sleep, "Sorry, I know you hate it when you forget to take your glasses. I thought I'd save myself the complaining tomorrow morning."
"Oh… Thanks." He answered groggily, looking around before letting his head hit the sofa again, "You're looking at me weird. What's the matter?"
It was him that made it different. With his blonde hair tousled from the awkward position he had been sleeping in, with his inquisitive emerald eyes staring up at her curiously, adjusting to sight without his glasses on before his eyelids drooped shut out of fatigue. Being with the one person she couldn't imagine life without made it different. He had given her the strength to get her perfect job, he had given her her beautiful child. Everything she had wanted had been right in front of her all along and she hadn't even seen it.
"Nothing." Paige replied, tilting her head to the side and looking into his eyes as she lovingly caressed his hair, "Hey, thanks for saving me today."
"Anytime." He replied; his voice muffled from being nearly face down on the couch, "Although I'm thinking of starting to charge you for the amount of times I do save your behind, however nice it may be."
Paige smiled back at him, moving her hand down his hand and lacing her fingers with his, "But you'll never stop being my hero, right?"
She got her hand squeezed gently as a response.
Alright, now just click that incredibly attractive purple button at the bottom of the screen! Lol.