Sadly, I don't own Charmed.
Modern-Day Witch Hunting.
The Halliwell sisters sat down once the present version of Pratt who seemed completely different from the one who had launched and orchestrated a modern-day witch hunt towards witches and anyone else accused and basing his political strategy on the fear he was spreading left with his dog.
"Does anyone think it was a coincidence the man whose dog poops outside our home is the same man who launched a modern-day re-launch of the Salem Witch trials?" Piper asked.
Phoebe shuddered as she remembered the confrontation she'd had with future Pratt. "Could be. Maybe it's magic's way of making it really hurt, just a little bit more? I mean, there have been moments where we have misused magic, but it looks like that was the warning for us never to do it again."
"Well, the next time he lets the mutt do that, I'll storm out of the house and stop him from doing that, or I could tell the police," Piper said.
"Seems like a better idea," Phoebe agreed.
"It's a very nasty one, though," Prue commented. "Subjecting you to a vision where you're set alight, making Leo go through the Book of Shadows and picking out the spell to send us into the future, encountering that alternate reality where magic was known and seen as nothing but evil, burning you…"
"Okay, alright. Stop!" Phoebe held up a hand, the vivid memory of the flames burning her while she'd been helpless in that high tech prison where modern science had seemed to find a way to block off magic if that forcefield was anything to go by getting to her.
Prue flinched at her insensitivity. There were moments like this where she wished her mum and grandmother hadn't died, forcing her to raise her two siblings by herself, it just created a divide that made her think she was her sister's parent. It also had the handicap of making her insensitive to their feelings. Phoebe looked between her sisters. "What happened? You mentioned you'd had a daughter?"
Piper and Prue glanced at one another, unsure if they should tell her of all the details, but they decided to do it anyway. "Leo and I were apparently married, and we divorced at some point after we'd had a child," Piper began.
"Melinda apparently had magic herself," Prue added.
Phoebe looked between her sisters quizzically. "Really?"
"Mm, but something happened to make Leo and I go through divorce proceedings; I dunno what it was, so don't ask. From the sounds of it, we had arguments about our magic and our daughter. But it must've been nasty because that version of Leo was bitter," Piper said.
"Maybe that's a good thing, you didn't really find out so that means you can change the future," Phoebe suggested, making her sisters look at her curiously. "It might have been the times of that world we just saw. Leo's a Whitelighter with responsibilities and it's possible that they clashed. And you can't deny, Piper, sometimes you are uneasy about being a witch."
She was right there. Piper had never really taken to their new life with gusto, and while both Phoebe and Prue sometimes had their own issues with being the Charmed Ones, Piper always had some reason to be afraid and nervous about their witch-y nature. Perhaps it was for a good reason.
"Look, I met future Leo. He showed me the vision of me committing that murder," Phoebe went on.
"Do you think he's going to do it again, in this reality Phoebe?" Piper asked although she was unsure about what her sister had just said about her attitude and Leo's responsibilities.
Phoebe looked down. "I don't know," she replied honestly, "but I think we should keep an eye on him; the media might say he's harmless, but along the way, he went wrong. Just like we did, and it all started with a case of using magic on a guy and a dog. For all we know Pratt's also gonna be destined to be a businessman or a dog walker, not a governor who based his whole policy on terror."
"Mm, I think that's a good idea," Prue shook her head, looking down at her hands, trying to avoid thinking about what she had seen of her own future self. "The fewer problems we have to deal with, the better."
"But how? We deal with demons and warlocks, not ordinary human beings," Piper as usual had to be pragmatic.
"We could spy on him? Tell the police we wanted to make sure he wasn't dangerous if he harassed women?" Phoebe suggested.
"Could we even do that? I mean, isn't it against the law?" Piper countered.
"Is it against the law if we bring a concern to the attention of the police?" Prue had a better counter. "Besides, this might be academic. From what I know of Greene, he isn't the type. We'll keep our ears open, and if we think something is up, we can get involved. Okay?'
"Okay, but I don't like the idea," Piper said before she looked down at her hands. "You think that our future selves crossed a few lines. I wonder what kind of lines were crossed to result in us turning out like that; I was a bitter divorced ex-wife of an equally bitter ex-husband Whitelighter who wanted to steer clear of me, my future self, and Prue became an arrogant celebrity-."
Prue sent her sister an unimpressed, arch, icy look. "I am here, y'know?"
Piper winced. "Sorry, Prue."
Prue sighed and turned to Phoebe. "It's okay, Piper, but I think we need to really try to learn from this mess. I think we can use our powers for what could be seen as selfish reasons, and definitely not for revenge since I can see Phoebe's argument about the smallest things becoming more serious, but if we do then we do so carefully and always make up for them. I mean, some witches particularly experienced ones likely do it all the time and yet find a way to make amends so the price isn't too steep."
"That could work, but I'd like to know why I was suddenly catapulted into that vision of being executed when I saw Greene's face on the TV," Phoebe mused.
"Maybe that's what could be in Greene's future? Maybe when he becomes more successful, he'll realise he can use his image as a sportsman to bring in the girls," Piper suggested.
"Could be, still I'm glad you're okay now, Phoebe," Prue smiled at her youngest sister.
"Believe me, so am I, and you should thank Leo, Piper. If it wasn't for him giving me clues about what was going on, well I would likely have made things worse if I had escaped with you," Phoebe said.
Piper wasn't sure how to take that one. She and Leo had hit a bit of a rough patch lately and she wasn't sure how they were going to patch things back up, but after what she had just seen she did not want to lose Leo. She wondered what it was that caused them to split, and then she asked herself if it was for the selfish reasons they used their magic.
"I will," she replied honestly. "But what I would really like to know is what kind of things did we do in the future. That spell was good at making us look like our future selves, but it wasn't good enough since it didn't give us an idea of what was going on."
"Maybe we used magic a bit too freely on innocents? And when I went after Greene and killed him, my magic revealed to the world which started off the whole mess, it was just the inevitable conclusion of a landslide that began with a terrible decision," Phoebe suggested, her mind going back to the vision Leo had shared with her in her cell while she was awaiting execution. She had been reeling from the hate and aggression from the guards and the terror mongering from Pratt. But when she had seen how she had murdered Greene, she had seen how her future self had shown no mercy or compassion. "Maybe it was because we created spells which crossed the lines between good and bad, and we found power in them?"
"We found several spells in the Book of Shadows," Prue explained solemnly for her sister's benefit. "There were spells in there we hadn't used or seen before, ever. There was a spell for creating a door and memory spells to wipe memories."
"I guess that makes sense if you wanted to put into the plan a prison break," Phoebe commented, thinking now it made sense for her sisters to be at the scene of her execution.
Prue gave Phoebe an understanding but speculative look as she realised something important. "Y'know, I've just realised, Leo was told to go to you in prison, and he revealed what happened. I think it was all part of a plan."
"A sick one; witches were discovered and the trials started off again, all because of what I did. I had a lot of time to think in that cell, and I realised it wasn't a judgement. It was all a test," Phoebe said solemnly. "A test to see if we were capable of seeing our mistakes and how we can change so much we see nothing wrong with crossing the line. That's what made me kill Greene like that, and Pratt was just nearby and revealed the truth. All we can do now is just be careful."
The three sisters shared a look and promised themselves they would never cross the line like that, ever.
Author's note - If you're interested in funding my writing, please look me up on The Stargate Time Traveller on Pa-treon.