I don't own Charmed.
A New Sister.
Phoebe looked worriedly at Piper. "How're you holding up?"
"Fine!" Phoebe flinched when she heard the shrillness of her sister's voice. "Why do you ask? I mean, it's not like our older sister is dead, and we've just discovered there's another sister, one we never knew about, right?"
Phoebe raised a brow. "I miss Prue, too," she replied quietly but she injected a note of danger into her voice. At the same time she was relieved she and Piper were having this, well she could hardly call it a discussion is given how erratic Piper had been for some time now. To make matters worse, she'd gotten Cole and Phoebe herself into going on a crusade throughout the city killing every demon they could find; if it were any other occasion, Phoebe would be up for it. Demons were disgusting creatures who preyed on innocents, but she was worried their actions might be sending shockwaves and would attract the attention of a demon who was more malevolent than the ones they'd encountered before.
But Piper didn't seem to care about that. She was desperate to go after every demon in the city, taking her rage out on them. But at the same time, Phoebe was glad Piper had even mentioned Paige. She didn't like the way Piper, who was usually the kindest of the Halliwell sisters was going out of her way to ignore Paige's existence. Paige was innocent. She hadn't even known she was related to them in the first place, but Piper was determined to treat her as enemy number 1.
"Piper," Phoebe decided to slam reality into her sister's face. "I don't care about the Power of Three-."
Unfortunately, that set Piper off on a rant. "Oh, don't get me started on the Power of Three!" She snarled. "There are times I wish we'd never discovered we were witches. I was terrified my soul would go to hell or if I were evil because of it."
"I don't care about the Power of Three, but blaming Paige for every little thing is not the way to go," Phoebe interrupted before her sister could really go on a rant, but a part of her was in total and complete agreement. The Power of Three and their role as the Charmed Ones was a mixed blessing. Phoebe had at first been terrified, and yet thrilled because, at last, she had found something to do with her life. But at the same time, it caused a lot of pain and grief. There were people and things out there that knew of the Charmed Ones and they'd wanted to kill them for good. Phoebe remembered the mess caused by Abraxus, who'd stolen the Book of Shadows, releasing every single demon they'd fought in reverse order, and causing more pain along the way. But she knew it would always be the mess with Shax and Tempus which would haunt them both for a long time to come since it involved Prue's death.
To Phoebe's relief, Piper seemed to relax when she registered what it was Phoebe had just said, but Piper had needed a moment to truly recognise the tone behind her attitude.
"You…don't like being a Charmed one?"
Phoebe sighed. "Not always," she whispered. "When we discovered the truth of our history, I was over the moon. At last, there was a purpose, but then the responsibilities and the consequences got there. And don't get me started on what happened to Prue. But the idea of another sister out there…"
"How can you be okay about that? I mean, mum and Grams lied for years-."
"For good reason. Those rules that Whitelighters and witches can't, you know, have kids and have lived their lives is totally unfair. That's changed with you and Leo, but it's painful knowing Paige had to not know us when she was growing up," Phoebe said. "It's not her fault, stop blaming her."
Piper closed her eyes and sighed. "I don't," she said simply, and then she got up and walked out of the kitchen, either not seeing or ignoring the concerned look Phoebe sent her way.
I'm never going to get through to her at this rate, Phoebe thought to herself sadly, thinking about her own relationship with Paige. Admittedly she was upset with how her mother and grandmother had just hidden the truth all these years. She knew if Prue knew about Paige… she would react just as badly and likely be harder to accept Paige at all.
She hoped that this anger didn't last. The Power of Three was back, and while she cursed it, she knew they had to get Piper back the way she was and hopefully Paige could fill the void Prue had left, for both Piper's sake and Phoebe's.
Author's note - Please let me know what you think.