Chapter 12: The Good, The Bad, And the Cursed Part 1
March 9, 2002
Buffy sat in the living room holding Faith's hand as they watched TV in the living room.
Phoebe walked in. "Buffy, we need you to come into the conservatory."
"What'd I do?" Buffy asked.
"Nothing."
Buffy looked at Faith and they got up and followed Phoebe. Leo, Piper and Prue stood around a bowl with purple smoke drifting out of it. "What's going on?"
"Thanks to Leo," said Prue. "We have a way of giving you powers." She held up a necklace with a triquetra for a charm. "As you know the charm is the family symbol. It's even on the cover of the Book of Shadows."
"In each circle a part of their power is going to rest," Leo explained. "Prue is giving you the power of telekinesis, Piper is giving you both of hers, and Phoebe is giving you her power to levitate."
"We're giving it to you now because you'll need to practice." Piper said. "It took me a while to get it, but we don't have a while. We could be attacked at any time. And we don't want a repeat of what happened with Kellman."
Prue put the necklace in the smoking bowl. Then she, Phoebe and Piper each took a side of the table.
"Take a piece of we three Charmed," said Piper, Prue and Phoebe, "and transfer it to this symbol of protection."
"The power to freeze and the power to burn." Piper touched the bowl and her hand lit up.
"The power to levitate." Phoebe touched the bowl and her hand lit up too.
"The power to move things with your mind." Prue touched the bowl and her hand lit up as well.
"Hear our plea, let the spell be complete." Prue, Piper and Phoebe said three times. The bowl itself started to glow and then the light from Prue, Phoebe, and Piper's hands was sucked into the smoke. The smoke sparkled and then dissipated.
"Let's see if it worked," Leo said as he took the necklace out and handed it to Buffy.
Buffy put it on and the charm flared a white light as Buffy felt a slight surge go through her. "Wow."
"You feel the power?" he asked.
Buffy nodded.
"Well, try something so we can see if it worked." Prue said. "Move something."
"Um…. I don't know how." Buffy said.
"It's easy. Here…." Prue said as she picked up a stress ball out of one of the chairs and held it up. "Visualize yourself moving it, but only with your mind. When I started, I squinted but as I learned control I could do it by just waving my hand at the object I wanted to move."
"Ok." Buffy imagined the ball flying out of Prue's hand and suddenly as she squinted at it, the ball went flying across the room. "Cool!"
"Ok, my turn." Phoebe said. "Imagine yourself floating off the ground and then jump."
Buffy closed her eyes and jumped. When she opened them, everyone was below her. "Would very much like to come down now." Then she was down.
"This is the hard one." Piper said. "Leo, you don't mind, do you?"
"No," said Leo. "But this may not be the best place for your exploding power."
"We'll try freezing first," said Piper as Leo moved over to the side. "Ok, point and shoot. Like a crossbow." She demonstrated for Buffy what she normally did.
"Ok…." Buffy flicked her hands like Piper did and everything but Buffy, Piper, Phoebe and Prue froze.
"Well, you almost got it."
"How do I unfreeze it?"
"Point and shoot, only want to unfreeze it."
"I want to unfreeze it." Buffy flicked her hands again and the whole room unfroze. She tried a couple more times and finally, only Leo was frozen.
"Now…. Blow him up."
Buffy flicked her hands at Leo and the window next to him exploded. "Oh! Sorry! I'll pay for that."
"It's ok. Try again," said Prue.
Buffy flicked her hands at Leo again and he exploded. "Yes!"
Leo orbed back in. "Ow! I thought we agreed it would be better to do that someplace safer."
"Well we had to make sure she could do it before she practiced someplace else," said Prue.
Leo nodded as he took Buffy's hand and orbed out with her. They orbed in somewhere outside of town.
"What about Faith?" Buffy wondered.
"The thing about this you two can share it," said Leo. "The powers are mainly for you though, but I am sure Prue, Piper and Phoebe wouldn't have a problem during an emergency if Faith borrowed the necklace."
"Another thing," said Buffy. "Since I have their powers as long as I am wearing the necklace, does that mean I can do magic as well?"
"You may have been able to do that before you got the necklace," said Leo. "You remember how the cover of the Book changed, adding two smaller triquetras on either side of the main one?" Buffy nodded. "Well the Elders believe it was recognizing you and Dawn. They believe it recognized you as a witch, a progenitor. A progenitor is a mortal who can do magic but does not have powers, they are the start of a magical line. So, it is possible that you can do magic even without the necklace."
March 10, 2002
Buffy sat with Phoebe in Buffy's car waiting. A car pulled up and they got out as Victor got out of the other car. Victor hugged first Phoebe and then Buffy as they started walking through the ghost town.
"Alright, dad, spill it," said Phoebe. "What are we doing here?"
"What, can't a father spend a little quality time with his daughter?" asked Victor. "Or a grandfather with his granddaughter?"
"Alright, I take after you, okay," Phoebe said. "I've inherited all of your tricks, especially your fine art of fibbing."
"I don't know what you're talking about," Victor said. "Tell me a little bit more about this Leo fellow anyway. How did he and Piper meet?"
"Oh, it was a couple of years ago at the house. He was our handyman," Phoebe explained. She saw Buffy bite her lip to keep from laughing. She could understand why since Buffy knew that the handyman cover was Leo's way of not revealing to his charges that he was a Whitelighter till it was time.
"Piper's marrying a handyman?" Victor asked shocked.
"Well, no, he isn't really a handyman. Wait, you do know..." Phoebe said.
"All I know is he's a nice enough guy who seems to know the big bad secret," Victor said. "Trust me, it's a lot better for a mortal to know he's marrying a witch before the wedding instead of after. Wish I had."
"Mortal. Right," said Phoebe realizing that Victor didn't know that Leo was a Whitelighter.
It was then that Phoebe and Buffy heard a noise come from one of the buildings. They looked around.
"What?" Victor asked.
"Slayer senses are tingling," Buffy said as she looked at Victor. "Grandpa Victor, why are we here?"
"Alright, I confess," Victor said with a sigh. "Phoebe, I wanted you here hoping maybe you could give me a little bit of your help. I just didn't know how to ask."
Phoebe sighed. "Magical help? Dad..."
"Well, this place seemed like such a good investment," Victor explained. "Too good, actually. Made me think that all the stories were true."
"Maybe we should bite," Buffy suggested. "Especially with my Slayer senses tingling."
Phoebe nodded. "What stories?"
"Ghost stories," Victor explained. "Something's been keeping people from investing and razing this place for over a hundred years."
"So, what, you wanted me to do a little supernatural inspection?" Phoebe asked.
"Well, yeah. I thought you could do a little Feng Shui on the place and maybe see if there's anything going on," Victor suggested.
"Okay, first of all, I don't do Feng Shui, and secondly, I can't always get a premonition when I want to," Phoebe said as she heard a noise coming from a building. "Buffy, did you hear that?"
"Yeah," Buffy said, "you too?"
Phoebe nodded. "Yeah."
"Heard what?" Victor asked.
Buffy and Phoebe turned at the sound of a glass bottle being smashed.
"Okay, you didn't hear that?" Phoebe asked her father.
Suddenly, a cowboy by the name of Bo was thrown out of a saloon followed by a second man.
"You're a dead man, Bo," said the second man.
"Buffy, can you see them?" Phoebe asked.
Buffy nodded. "Yeah."
"See who?" Victor asked.
"Hey! Hey, what's going on?" Phoebe yelled at the men down the street.
"Nobody crosses Mr. Sutter," said the second man as he hit Bo in the face.
Bo flew back right through Phoebe. He turned and ran off as the second man shot at him seconds before they disappeared.
"Okay I think this is one hundred …" Buffy started to say before she noticed that Phoebe had a bleeding lip. "Aunt Phoebe, your lip is bleeding."
"I wouldn't buy this place, dad," Phoebe said as she dabbed at her lip with a handkerchief. "Really, really bad Feng Shui."
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Prue walked down the stairs and turned towards the dining room. As she looked at the table, she noticed something. She looked to her middle sister as she said, "Uh, wait a minute. We have one too many place settings."
"No, we don't," Piper said.
"Okay, uh, you, me, Leo, Phoebe, Buffy, Dawn, Faith and dad. That's eight, we have nine."
"So?"
"So, who is the ninth for?" Prue asked.
"It's for maybe, um, mom," Piper said as she noticed Prue give her a look. "What? It's my wedding. At least she could be here in spirit, if nothing else."
"Yes, she can be," Prue said as she hugged Piper.
It was then that Faith, Leo and Dawn came down the stairs. "Wow, looks great. When do we eat?" asked Leo.
"Leo, can't you see we're having a sister moment?" Piper asked.
"Oh, sorry. Do you want us to go?" Leo asked.
Piper shook her head. "No, I want you to help. This is your rehearsal dinner too, you know."
"So, Leo, you nervous?" Prue asked. "I mean, only one more week before dum, dum, dum-dum."
"Well, as long as no demons come bursting through that door, until them, I am fine," Leo said.
"Mom! Aunt Piper!" came Buffy's voice from the area of the front door.
Faith, Prue, Piper, Leo and Dawn turned to see Victor and Buffy flanking Phoebe as they walked through the front door.
Piper glanced at Leo. "You had to jinx it."
"So, what happened?" Prue asked.
"Oh, it's nothing, I'm fine," Phoebe said. "I just need an aspirin."
"Buffy?" Piper said.
"Grandpa Victor, wanted Aunt Phoebe to get a premonition on this ghost town we met him in. We got a lot more than that," Buffy answered. "We saw I think real ghosts."
"Two cowboys actually who were in the midst of a bar fight, Bo and some other guy," Phoebe explained. "I didn't catch his name," she looked at Buffy who shook her head indicating she hadn't either.
"I think I speak for both myself and Aunt Phoebe that we think he was the bad guy," Buffy said.
"Sweetheart, I never would have asked you to meet me there if I had any idea," Victor said apologetically as he looked at his youngest daughter.
"It's fine, dad. Really, don't worry about it," Phoebe said.
"Here, let me take care of that," Leo said as he tried to heal Phoebe.
"No, I'm alright," Phoebe said. "Dad, why don't you go to the porch and get those town files. You know, maybe there's something in them that can help us."
"Alright," Victor said as he went back outside.
Phoebe sighed. "Dad doesn't know that Leo is a Whitelighter."
"What?" Prue and Leo asked shocked that Victor didn't know.
"That was my reaction," Buffy admitted. "Then Aunt Phoebe reminded me about Grandma Patty and her Whitelighter."
"Yeah, I've been meaning to tell him, but considering mom had an affair with her Whitelighter, I didn't think he'd be really receptive to the idea," Piper said.
"Wow," Faith said as she glanced at her girlfriend. "Which means he may have a problem with our history."
"Possibly," agreed Buffy.
"Piper, he's going to kill me when he finds out," Leo said with a sigh.
Victor walked back in through the front door carrying a box of files. "Just a lot of investment stuff and background info. I don't see how it's going to help you find out what happened."
"Well, you're the one that called it a ghost town, and since Bo fell through me and I ended up with the same split lip that he had," Phoebe said.
"I think Buffy is right, sounds like a ghost to me," Prue said.
"I just hope it's not a male-o-whatsit spirit, because I don't really want to be possessed again," Buffy said as Victor looked at her. "Back in high school, I was possessed by a spirit that was trying to get forgiveness for accidentally killing a woman he loved."
"It can't be a ghost," Leo said. "Ghosts don't bleed."
Piper rolled her eyes. "Ahem."
"I mean, so I've read in books. Obviously, it's not my area of expertise," Leo said as he glanced at Victor.
"Mine, neither," Victor said. "What do you say we let the supernatural stuff to the pros and go grab a bite?"
"I don't know, Mr. Bennett," Leo objected.
"Oh," Prue said as a smile graced both hers and Piper's faces. She patted Leo on the back.
"Victor, please," Victor told Leo. "It's time you called me Victor, son. Faith, why don't you join us. Give us time to have that conversation also. Come on."
Faith glanced at Buffy who nodded.
"It'll be alright. He knows you're a Slayer," Buffy said as Faith nodded and followed Victor and Leo out the door.
Piper sighed. "Great, now I'm dead."
"Probably," agreed Dawn.
"Alright, why don't we just focus on Phoebe and try and figure out what happened," Prue suggested as she headed for the stairs. "I'll get the book."
"I'll get it and maybe a drink," Piper said as she moved past Prue and up the stairs.
"Mom, can I call Giles?" Buffy suggested. "He might have something on his end you never know."
"Go ahead," said Prue.
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At a restaurant Faith, Leo and Victor sat at a table. A very nervous Leo is gulping down a glass of water.]
"So, Phoebe says you're a handyman?" Victor said.
"Oh? Uh, actually, no. I'm a, I'm a doctor," said Leo. "I mean, not a doctor doctor, per se. More of, like, a counselor doctor. I guide people."
"You make good money?" Victor asked.
"Uh, honestly, no. It's more of a calling," answered Leo.
"What about you, Faith? What is it you do?" asked Victor looking at Faith.
"I work for Buffy and with Buffy," said Faith. "I'm a Slayer. Buffy told you about drowning, right?"
"Yes."
"I do the same thing she does," Faith said. "That's how we met. I was her replacement's replacement. And what I do for money. I'm the manager at Buffy's art gallery. I'm usually there when she has her counseling sessions or when she's in class. We're actually closed today as we have a showing later this week."
Victor nodded. "I think it's time to come clean," he said.
"You do?" Faith and Leo asked confused on why Victor was coming clean.
"Yeah. I need to talk to you both about something man to man," said Victor. "Or man to woman, interested in my granddaughter."
"Like what?" asked Faith.
"Well, from one mortal to another," said Victor. "It's not easy being married to a witch." He then looked at Faith. "While you and Buffy are both Slayers, you do live in a house with witches. This is why my marriage to Piper's mother didn't work out. It wasn't because I didn't love her, it was because I wasn't prepared for what was to come."
"Well, I think Faith and I are prepared, sir... I mean, Victor," admitted Leo.
"Don't get me wrong," Victor said. "I want your marriage to succeed, Leo. And I want, when you and Buffy think your ready for that step, Faith, to succeed as well. That's why I'm warning you both. But there are dangers out there worse than demons and warlocks. You both do know about them, don't you?"
"Well, yeah, sure," replied Leo.
"Of course," said Faith.
"Well, the dangers I'm talking about, you're not even going to see coming," said Victor. "The thing I'm talking about will just sneak up on you and destroy your marriage if you're not careful. Do you both know what a Whitelighter is?"
Faith and Leo glanced at each other.
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Buffy sat next to the phone twenty minutes later waiting for Giles to call back. She noticed Dawn approach her.
"Mom and Aunt Piper looking through their Book," Dawn said. "Mom told me about the necklace. What is it like?"
Buffy shrugged. "Different. I mean I've always had powers as you know. But this it feels different. Did they tell you I might be able to actually do magic?"
"Yeah," said Dawn. "Mom, Aunt Phoebe and Aunt Piper wanted to keep it a secret till you were ready for that burden. I understand why, you were going through enough at the time that you didn't need more, especially when you had just asked for your Slayer powers back."
Just then the phone rang and Buffy answered it. "Halliwell Residence, Payson speaking."
"Buffy?" came Giles voice from the phone.
"Hey, Giles," Buffy said with a smile as she held the phone so that Dawn could listen as well.
"Hi, Giles," said Dawn.
"Hello, Dawn."
"What do you have?" Buffy asked.
"I found records on the town you mentioned. Or rather what records there were as all record keeping stopped in 1873."
"What?" Dawn asked. "How is that possible, Giles?"
"From what I've learned," Giles said. "The town I believed was cursed into a time loop to relive over and over a certain series of events till the loop was broken."
"Why would they be stuck in this loop?" Buffy wondered.
"Possibly some form of great evil or maybe some great injustice happened."
"So, we have to right whatever went wrong?" Buffy asked. "Great now we're Sam Beckey."
"Sam Beckey?" Giles asked confused at the cultural reference.
"Sam Beckett," Dawn explained. "Was a character from a TV show that jumped back in forth through time fixing whatever had originally went wrong."
"Ah."
"Thanks, Giles," Buffy said. She hung up the phone and then led Dawn into the living room. They explained to Prue, Piper and Phoebe what Giles had said.
"So that is probably why this is happening to me," Phoebe said before explaining about a bruise she had just found. "Our job is to right the wrong."
"Yeah, well, we better do it before your symptoms get any worse," Prue said as the doorbell rang. "I'll …"
"Already got it," Buffy said as she opened the front door to find Cole standing there holding a bouquet of flowers.
Cole looked at Buffy and smiled. "Hello, Buffy. Is Phoebe home?"
"Yes," said Buffy. "But so is mom and Aunt Piper and they're not your biggest fans, especially mom."
"Well I have to start somewhere," he said as Buffy moved aside and let him in.
"Living room," said Buffy as she led Cole into the living room.
"What the... Cole, what...?" Phoebe said shocked to see Cole.
"Phoebe, hi," Cole said. "Oh, phew." He held out the flowers that she pushed away. "These are for you."
"Okay two questions," Prue said. "What the hell are you doing here? And do you have some kind of death wish?"
Cole sighed. "I told Phoebe last week that I wasn't giving up on her and I, I meant it."
"You talked to Phoebe?" Piper asked before looking at her baby sister. "He talked to you?"
"Uh-huh," Cole said with a nod.
"You said that he was alive," Prue said with a sigh. "You never said that he was back."
"It didn't matter because as I told him, I don't want anything to do with him anymore," Phoebe said.
"Oh, well, in that case," Prue said as she was about to use her powers on Cole.
"Hey, hey, hey!" Piper said. "I just set that table. We don't have time to buy a new one before dinner."
"I'm not going to use my powers against you anyway," Cole said. "In fact, I'm never going to use them again, ever. It keeps me from being evil."
"No, you will always be evil, you're a demon," Prue said.
Cole sighed. "Half-demon. My human half can suppress it if..." Cole said as he noticed Phoebe's injuries. "Phoebe, you're hurt. What happened?"
"You know what, Cole? It's none of your business. So, why don't you do yourself a favor and just get..." Phoebe said as she received a premonition of a cowboy shooting Bo.
"Aunt Phoebe?" Dawn said as Phoebe fell into her arms. "Buffy, help me."
Buffy moved to Dawn and Phoebe and helped Dawn move Phoebe to the couch.
"Phoebe, what happened?" Prue asked as she, Piper and Cole followed.
Dawn frowned as she looked down at her hand, it was covered in blood. "Mom, call for Leo."
"Why?" Prue asked before noticing Dawn's hand.
"I think Aunt Phoebe has been shot," Dawn said.
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At the restaurant Victor was telling Faith and Leo about Whitelighters. "The thing is they can orb into their charges' lives any time of the day or night..." he said as a waitress topped up his coffee. "Without us mortals even knowing about it. You can't trust the Whitelighters, Leo. They're sneaky little bastards."
"Really?" said Leo. "'Cause Piper says that they're really, really good guys. More of, like, guardian angels."
"That's the party line, but don't believe it. You can't trust 'em," said Victor. "They have this tendency to fall in love with their charges. Before you know it, they've stolen your wife. The girls' mother, Patty? She fell for her Whitelighter."
"Wasn't that after you and Patty separated?" asked Faith.
"Oh, he was putting the moves on her long before we split up, believe me," explained Victor. "Anyway, you know, we never had a chance to get back together because of him. And, um, you know, then she died. Look, my point is, if you want to..."
"Uh-oh," said Leo as he glanced at Faith. He was getting a call from Prue and it sounded urgent.
"What?" Victor asked.
"Faith and I have to go now," said Leo.
"Go?" asked Victor confused on what was going on.
"Yeah, and I don't think you're going to like the way I have to go, either," Leo said as he took Faith's hand and they orbed out leaving Victor sitting there in shock.